Mikaela Shiffrin explains 'nervous' feeling ahead of Alpine World Skiing Championships winning giant slalom run

ByIbrahim Mustapha

Published 16/02/2023 at 17:55 GMT

It was another great day for Mikaela Shiffrin as she picked up her first gold medal of the 2023 Alpine World Skiing Championships in Meribel with victory in the giant slalom. However, despite the impressive nature of her win, the American knew she could take nothing for granted ahead of her second run, based on lessons of the past. Italy's Federica Brignone took silver.

Mikaela Shiffrin confessed she was "nervous" ahead of her winning second run of the giant slalom at the Alpine World Skiing Championships in Meribel .

Shiffrin secured her first gold of the 2023 championships having dominated the first run and heading out last for the second.

Although she started superbly it looked as if she had lost it in the final sectors, but held on to beat Italy's Federica Brignone by just 0.12s.

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The 27-year-old has now won at least one gold medal at every World Championships since 2013.

Local favourite Tessa Worley, chasing a record third giant slalom world title, suffered a dramatic crash in her second run. Although thankfully uninjured, she missed the opportunity to make history.

An elated Shiffrin was almost speechless at the finish zone.

“That’s unbelievable,” she cried out. “I was so nervous, my God. I can’t believe it.

“This is not an easy position with the home crowd favourite. Thank you for cheering for me anyway.”

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Speaking later after fully digesting her victory, the American elaborated on exactly why she was so nervous, recalling the giant slalom World Cup final a year earlier where she was again fastest on the first run, before capitulating on the second.

That day, her second run was slowest of the 24 finishers dropping her to seventh in the final standings.

“Yeah, it was quite special today,” she said. “I felt very good on the first run. But on inspection for the second run, I could see the surface down here was getting much softer with the sunlight. And then it made me think about the finals last year.

“I lost so much time on the second run just skiing slower on the soft snow. So when I thought about the second run today, I got so nervous, because I was sure it was going to be the same thing.

“If I was to bet on somebody, it would be Federica or Tessa. They were my two because they did it so strong last year here as well. So it (winning) is unbelievable. This 12 hundredths is a really small margin.”

Highlights: Shiffrin storms to first gold of World Championships as Worley crashes out

Despite her win, there was a heart-in-mouth moment for Shiffrin as she lost control of her left ski at one stage towards the end of her second run which looked to slow her down.

However, it proved inconsequential as she had built up enough speed to take her to the line for her narrow victory over Brignone.

“I think everybody made some mistake like yes, for sure,” she explained. “Just pick your spot for the mistake. And then at the bottom, I just went blind and just ski faster. I don't know how, but ‘just do it’ and I did it”.

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