Mikaela, the fire that burns inside and a cup to be played despite everything. "There is no happiness, but pride"

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Journey into Shiffrin's feelings after the first, very exciting success of his "second career". The embrace of teammates, the respect of rivals. Dizzying numbers and choices to make.

Tuesday 15 December 2020 7 minutes reading time

“It's like it's my first win”. That of a second career, because there is a before and an after in Mikaela Shiffrin's life, sporting or not, clearly linked to the tragedy for the death of her father, in the first weekend of last February. Followed by the attempt to return, with the cup ending prematurely, the lockdown, all the extra ski problems to manage (dad Jeff followed every financial aspect of Mikaela's immense wealth), the psychological ones of wanting to return immediately to a high level, hence the renunciation of Soelden with the few workouts sustained, beyond the "official" back pain. Yesterday in Courchevel the success n ° 67 in the World Cup was pure emotion for her, for all those who live everyday life (including the young teammates, who gave her an endless party) and also for the whole environment of the white circus, even if Mikaela has always been seen as a Martian from many points of view. On the other hand, it is the condemnation of the numbers 1, at every level. “I can't say I'm happy, but proud - she said again in the post race at ORF - I didn't know if I could ever reach my previous level again, but today I didn't ski alone. So many people supported me and I did it for my coaches, for my mother, for my family ”. On social media he did not fail to send a greeting “to the kind people who believe I have lost my focus forever. This is for you and for every single person who is helping me get that fire back ”. There were the beautiful words of Tessa Worley (“Mikaela is very strong, not only as an athlete), as well as some blue, Bassino and Brignone. “Competing with these women is something special - Mikaela said about it - Everyone wants to win, of course, but we can also think beyond the skier. And this is perhaps the best thing of the day, besides the victory ”. NUMBERS AND CHOICES World Cup Wins? Sixty-seven, after 323 days of waiting since that super-g of Bansko (fighting just with Bassino, second, and Brignone who came out on the most beautiful, practically reversed roles compared to yesterday) that closed, in fact, his 2019 season / 2020. A number that equalized Marcel Hirscher in third place all time, with Ingemar Stenmark at 86 in front of everyone and Lindsey Vonn at 82, the only woman who still precedes Shiffrin. Pearl number 12 in giant, podium n ° 98, fifth seal in Courchevel (the third among the wide doors) and now some choices to make. We are talking about chances in view of the general World Cup, even if Mikaela excluded it from thoughts by speaking to the press just before the giants of Courchevel. "I will focus on the technical disciplines, the fight for the general is someone else's business". True the first part of the sentence, at least in the programs of the next few weeks, a little less the second one considering that the champion of Eagle was already fighting for the "coppone" at the time when descent and super-g were practically not in his thoughts. Of course, winning also in speed had become unattainable for all and, right now, in the technical disciplines he does not have the margin to allow himself to dominate all the races or almost, especially in giant but also in slalom with a great rival like Vlhova. Time of choices, therefore, after having already skipped Soelden and the parallel of Lech, in addition to the super-g of Sankt Moritz then canceled (and probably recovered in January, when Shiffrin should be there). You have excluded Val d''Isère from your thoughts, with the speed opening starting on Wednesday with the first downhill test, then there will obviously be in Semmering for giant + post-Christmas slalom and on the Sljeme hill for the Zagreb slalom. , but it will probably be from the next round of Sankt Anton (downhill and super-g on 9-10 January 2021) that we will understand if Queen Mikaela can return to compete on all terrains, with the necessary confidence on a mental, physical and technical level. And it will be the next three weeks, with good spaces on the calendar to train, after skipping a good part of the summer-autumn preparation, the decisive ones in this sense.

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