Mikaela Shiffrin

[Mike King]

I wonder what happened in her second run. She dominated the first run, but was way off the mark in each sector in the second. Still, she lost only by .06 seconds...

 

[Swede]

No mistake. She didn’t go voll gas (some ’d argue that IS a mistake). Slow in the flats. Lena carried more speed into the flats and final pitch too, so MS had needed to risk a little more in 2:nd today.

 

[maple19]

Yep, she was just too conservative where she really needed to take some risk, because Lena’s run was so great. No shame in today’s result though (four podiums - including three wins - in six days!), and I can imagine she was quite exhausted after the marathon that was this last week. Plus, she got the slalom globe back!

 

[Teppaz]

And now for some levity: MS had a fun little conversation with Tina Weirather.

 

[S.H.]

No mistake. She didn’t go voll gas (some ’d argue that IS a mistake). Slow in the flats. Lena carried more speed into the flats and final pitch too, so MS had needed to risk a little more in 2:nd today.

locked up the SL globe though

I guess she can still ski SL a little bit

 

[Swede]

locked up the SL globe though

I guess she can still ski SL a little bit

Itsy bitsy tiny bit

 

[charlier]

From FIS : Everyone was expecting Mikaela Shiffrin 86th victory and no one thought of the slalom title, which no female skier has ever won!
#fisalpine

 

[fatbob]

Has ever won? ...so early in the season?

 

[crgildart]

GOAT! Goddess!

 

[Andy Mink]

From FIS : Everyone was expecting Mikaela Shiffrin 86th victory and no one thought of the slalom title, which no female skier has ever won!
#fisalpine

View attachment 190875

I thought she won it several other times?

 

[James]

I thought she won it several other times?

Things have gone off the rails here.

Mikaela Shiffrin: 'Holy crap, that was really good skiing!' Mom tells US skier after she breaks landmark record | CNN

American skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin is having quite the 2023 -- and it could get even better before the end of January.

www.cnn.com

 

[S.H.]

From FIS : Everyone was expecting Mikaela Shiffrin 86th victory and no one thought of the slalom title, which no female skier has ever won!
#fisalpine

View attachment 190875

Has ever won? ...so early in the season?

I thought she won it several other times?

I believe it's nobody else has won the SL globe seven times.

 

[4ster]

Someone wins the overall discipline titles every season.
I think we are referring to the fact that Mikaela just won it for I believe the 7th time in Slalom which is a record!

 

[James]

Hey @Swede , what is he saying here roughly from about 2:40? Those turns were at Loveland in 2016, first on snow after injury. Seems there’s moor footage in spots than the “original”.

 

[Swede]

Hey @Swede , what is he saying here roughly from about 2:40? Those turns were at Loveland in 2016, first on snow after injury. Seems there’s moor footage in spots than the “original”.

First afaik it's a guy who's running his own ski operation. He's not a "name" in racing, but has been in the skiing industry for many, many years, running camps etc. for seriuos free ride / big mountain skiers, tech camps in Sweden and in the Alps. I have no experience from his operation but this is what he says (a little shortened and simplified):

0:00-0:58
A few hints for your ski trip to practice when you're on the hill.
We're going to take a look at Shiffrin, I found some footage on Youtube. First there's a big difference between a race turn and a freeride turn, as you can see on these images. As free riders, we want to ride round and smooth / compliant. We want a strong outside ski to find grip when it's steep, we want to be able to make short, nice turns to maintain our speed and most importantly we want to ski relaxed so that we don't lose to much power during a day. Pretty much the opposite of the racers who do everything they can to get from the top to the bottom as fast as possible.

0:59-1:35
Let's use Shiffrin as our role model, she's pretty good (wink). Check out these turns...
There are four things we should look at: strong outside ski, lets her hip in, keeps her outside arm in front and counters with her inside shoulder. So ... strong outside, relaxed hip and then compliant with the upper body.

1:35-1:44
Text says
THE BASICS
BALANCE ON THE OUTSIDE SKI
LOOK DOWN THE HILL
ARMS IN FRONT OF YOU
STEER WITH YOUR SKIS

Balance on the outside ski means that you keep all the power on the outside ski. Look down the hill, then you will create a counter rotation, arms in front of you, compliant outside arm, that's the most important.

1:45-2:41

Follow closely what she's doing when she's doing this drill, a great exercise for finding your outside ski. She gets on her outside very early, blances and steers the outside ski through the turn. Steers and blances... and she's looking down the hill, well she's looking down in the ground right here, but you should look down the hill not down into the snow. She bends down a little to be powerful, steers the outside through the turn. Pay special attention to her inner shoulder, inner arm, it does not follow and end up behind, it's positioned diagonally in front of her all the time... outside ski, look down, inside arm stays a little in front of outside arm all the time.

2:42-4:30

Here's the complete package in her skiing. She bobs down, stands up and bobs down ... it's so very compliant and rythmic. She stands up, leans forward and then "bobs a courtsy" through the turn, relaxes the knee joint... look at the ouside arm moving forwatd, but inside shoulder counters. There's a bend and stretch movement in her knee joint which she performs at the end of the turn ... here ... being compliant, going with the skis w/o rotating with the movement. Look here 3:30 She stands up and leans slightly forward, notice that the inner ski is a bit in front of the outside. She bends down, edges the skis a lot and allows the hip to move inside... counters with the inner shoulder to not rotate with the turn... she continues to bend her knees, relaxes and the skis comes in under her body. (3:50) Stands up, lean forward, and than slowly "sits" down, allowing the hip to slowly come inside by relaxing the hip and bend the inside knee ... it's (basically) all you do. Relax the hip and bend the inside knee at the end of the turn. All support on the ouside.


Then in the other video, Shakira sings "hips don't lie". Personally, I'm going with that advice

You owe me a beer.

/swede

 

[Swede]

Just adding to the above as I missed the info, is that his (the instructor who made the film) philosophy according to his material, is to study what the high level racers do and apply it to free skiing.

 

[4ster]

Just adding to the above as I missed the info, is that his (the instructor who made the film) philosophy according to his material, is to study what the high level racers do and apply it to free skiing.

Smart move

 

[James]

You owe me a beer.

Thanks! Very nice of you to do that translating. One of these days in Sweden.
I’ll celebrate now by choking down a piece of Swedish salted licorice.

This is funny:

Steers and balances... and she's looking down the hill, well she's looking down in the ground right here, but you should look down the hill not down into the snow.

Yeah they all, like HK, seem to look down doing those slow drills.

 

[James]

Dominique Gisin with Mikaela. 3 yrs ago
Some good stuff.


This is from 2019 in Lake Louise. An interview, but more of a discussion than usual. Probably because Gisin is another athlete in the same arena, Shiffrin is more relaxed and open. Really interesting about her lack of “killer instinct” , and how she’s not motivated by anger, and learned how to use that. Too bad the video is not twice as long.

 

[Paul Lutes]

I like Mikaela's scarves .......