Mikaela Shiffrin misses out on medal at slalom World Championships with fifth place - 'Really grateful to be here'
By Flo Clifford
Published 15/02/2025 at 14:33 GMT
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American Mikaela Shiffrin missed out on a record-breaking 16th World Championships medal with fifth place in the slalom. It was her first time finishing off the podium in the event in seven appearances. She had been third after the first run but looked scrappy on her second, falling down the order, with Switzerland's Camille Rast holding onto her first-run advantage to win her first world title.
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Video credit: TNT Sports
Mikaela Shiffrin missed out on a medal in the women's slalom at the Alpine Ski World Championships, finishing fifth and recording her first-ever finish outside the medals in the event.
She is still early in her comeback from a serious injury in the giant slalom at Killington, Vermont in November, in which she suffered a puncture wound to her abdomen that required surgery.
She confirmed that her first giant slalom race since the injury would be at next week's World Cup round in Sestriere, Italy.
Shiffrin had been third after the first run in Saalbach-Hinterglemm behind Austrian home favourite Katharina Liensberger and Switzerland's Camille Rast, but a scrappy second run was only enough for fifth overall.
Rast held her nerve to seal her first world title, when Liensberger ultimately finished third behind Rast's compatriot Wendy Holdener.
"It was twice as good as what I was in Courchevel!" Shiffrin said after the race, referring to her 10th place in her first race back after surgery.
"It's a really good step forward, I think there's some obvious challenges that I face to keep improving in my skiing, and to get to the point where I can be fighting for a podium for the end of the season.
"It's a step-by-step process and it's going to continue to take work, but eight weeks ago I had surgery and six weeks ago I was still in bed with a drainage tube. It's a funny place to be, recovering and returning to ski racing during the World Championships, but in the end, I'm really grateful to be here.
"It's a challenging hill and the conditions were real amazing conditions, and it's a full-length course and it's all these pieces that I just need to keep working on. But this is also the best training I can have for the next races, and when I look at the top women, they're skiing so well, so I've just got to keep working step by step to be able to compete with that.
"[My next race] is coming up quick, and the first GS start is coming up quick, but let's take it on, let's try."
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Her fifth-place finish marked the first time in all seven of her World Championships appearances that the American failed to pick up a medal in the discipline, with four golds, a silver and a bronze to her name.
The result means Shiffrin will have to wait until the 2027 edition in Crans Montana to continue her chase of an outright record 16th World Championship medal.
The 29-year-old won her 15th world medal with gold in the new women's team combined event on Tuesday, when she partnered with new downhill world champion Breezy Johnson, to tie with German skier Christl Cranz for overall medals.
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'Pretty crazy' - Shiffrin, Johnson thrilled with 'amazing' combined gold medal
Video credit: TNT Sports
Rast, who leads the season's slalom standings with two World Cup victories so far, produced a near-flawless second run to become world champion, eight years after winning slalom gold at the 2017 junior World Championships.
She set the quickest time on the first run of 58.91 seconds, with home favourite Liensberger 0.58 seconds back in second and Shiffrin 0.72 seconds behind in provisional third.
116 athletes started but only 45 finished the first run on Saturday, and there were more skiers to crash out on the second run, including former Olympic giant slalom champion Sara Hector.
Switzerland's Wendy Holdener had been fourth on the first run but produced a brilliant second run to move into the hot seat and pile the pressure on Shiffrin, the next athlete to race.
Shiffrin had only eight-hundredths of a second up on Holdener before taking to the course and a scrappy second run meant she slipped down the standings to provisional third, behind her USA team-mate Paula Moltzan.
Liensberger was similarly out of sorts but produced enough to hold onto a podium place, finishing third behind the Swiss duo of Rast - whose winning time was 1.58:00 - and Holdener.
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