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Mikaela Shiffrin

Muleski

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OK.....

Now, I'm beyond impressed. I'm absolutely blown away. I would have bet the farm that this would not happen. Shows what I do not know!

Just incredible. Wow. And we have one more day of racing there.

Yikes! Just tremendous.
 

spackler

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Pretty amazing stuff. Incredible how well she skis the flats, that doesn't usually come that quickly.
 
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4ster

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Luckily she skis really well on her inside ski :eek:!
The fact that the technically best skier is also the fastest doesn’t surprise me but her ability to find & glide a flat ski like a veteran is impressive.
What will surprise me is if she does NOT win the SG tomorrow.
 

Muleski

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I'm blown away by the whole thing......but a coach friend, "quite close to this" reminded me last night that she has been drilled and coached at "working terrain" since she was a little tyke. Not so much pure gliding, but the more subtle art of working the backsides, and downhill sides of ripples, bumps and "terrain" to accelerate on each. I was kind of on the "blah-blah" semi listening mode. I think he's right. She's making time on the flats that is more than gliding. And she's killing the big turns.

The other thing is that it's a bit easier to look like a superstar in the flats when you are the most fit racer in the field, which is the word. Can do whatever it takes, full gas, right through the finish. Not the case with the majority of the field. She is just a phenom.

I don't care if it "is only LL", or that the field is diminished, injured, banged up, etc. Not issues.

FOUR career WC DH starts. One win, one other podium. That's amazing!!

Big congratulations!

This is going to be incredibly interesting to watch. Looks like we have a threat to podium/win in every event. How do they manage her schedule?

She may start in all five events in Korea, and have a very strong chance to podium in ALL five.

Unbelievable, to me. Love it!

The more interesting thing to me is that at LL, the Head skis did not appear to be the speed wagons. Very complicated, as somebody like Primoz can explain, but I would normally expect some very fast running skis under a number of those pairs of boots, and they were not. Conversely, MS had great skis. And her boots sure as heck worked! Both surprise me a bit. It may be that they were merely "running well", and that the pilot herself just killed it! "Murdered it!" I'm going with that one.

So, so happy for her.
 

4ster

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C021C0EB-52D8-4CEF-9767-D530FC1B5A01.jpeg
 

Muleski

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No kidding, that recovery at the fishnet was freaking amazing

What impressed me even more was that she just rode it out, got composed, back on line, super clean....and accelerated, powering right through the finish. To me, she looked like she wasn't rattled, wasn't pressing, etc. In HER FOURTH WC DH!!

That would, IME, rattle a lot of experienced skiers. They immediately feel that they "need to make up time", pinch off line, try to hold their tucks when they shouldn't and make a lot of tactical slips. Nope.....she just kept executing, perfectly. Just Wow.

She is just an amazing athlete, with an incredible mental game. I also think she just possibly is now getting inside LV's head. Hs nothing to do with beating a bruised LV, more the fact that she has made it clear that she can do this well and win. Boom!
 

4ster

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I'm blown away by the whole thing......but a coach friend, "quite close to this" reminded me last night that she has been drilled and coached at "working terrain" since she was a little tyke. Not so much pure gliding, but the more subtle art of working the backsides, and downhill sides of ripples, bumps and "terrain" to accelerate on each. I was kind of on the "blah-blah" semi listening mode. I think he's right. She's making time on the flats that is more than gliding. And she's killing the big turns.

I agree it is more than gliding, she is working it! Every ripple & bit of terrain like a pump track. I would expect that she has the fastest possible skis & Atomic has historically provided some rockets but it takes a superior pilot to fly them.
 

Swede

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Stunned is the word. Me and a few others here have already raved about her, dubbed her ”once a generation” etc. But she is just so exceptional. Ok, LL isn’t the toughest speed hill, but anyways. It just shows her tremendous palette and that she is the next 86:er.
 

hbear

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Posted in the other thread. LV was clearly hurt/sore, surprised she skied to be honest but knowing her not surprised either.

Great run by MS. She isn’t a stranger to Lake Louise. (Think she won a Noram here before)
 

newfydog

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I'm still trying to digest this. I prefer it when the WC is won by somebody who at least tries to ski all the events, but to win a DH in the fourth race.????......Consider a great technical skier like Phil Mahre. He won the WC in '81, '82 and '83, and was ranked 32nd, 26th, and 16 in DH in those years. Never was even close to a podium. Stenmark gave it a try and about broke his neck, so Phil was rightfully given the combined points and the overall cup.

Anja Paerson dominated the tech events, but did not score DH points until her 6th season (42nd), finally reaching 3rd overall in her 12th season. Her success in speed mirrored a decline in the tech events.

We are seeing Shiffrin going from good to historically good as we watch.
 

Rudi Riet

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In today's race it helped that the top of the course was left out due to the power issues at Lake Louise. The lower start meant missing a lot of flatter gliding sections, which plays to Shiffrin's favor.

Not that it's worth any whinging - she laid down a smoking run today!
 

James O

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I'm blown away by the whole thing......but a coach friend, "quite close to this" reminded me last night that she has been drilled and coached at "working terrain" since she was a little tyke. Not so much pure gliding, but the more subtle art of working the backsides, and downhill sides of ripples, bumps and "terrain" to accelerate on each. I was kind of on the "blah-blah" semi listening mode. I think he's right. She's making time on the flats that is more than gliding. And she's killing the big turns.

The other thing is that it's a bit easier to look like a superstar in the flats when you are the most fit racer in the field, which is the word. Can do whatever it takes, full gas, right through the finish. Not the case with the majority of the field. She is just a phenom.

I don't care if it "is only LL", or that the field is diminished, injured, banged up, etc. Not issues.

FOUR career WC DH starts. One win, one other podium. That's amazing!!

Big congratulations!

This is going to be incredibly interesting to watch. Looks like we have a threat to podium/win in every event. How do they manage her schedule?

She may start in all five events in Korea, and have a very strong chance to podium in ALL five.

Unbelievable, to me. Love it!

The more interesting thing to me is that at LL, the Head skis did not appear to be the speed wagons. Very complicated, as somebody like Primoz can explain, but I would normally expect some very fast running skis under a number of those pairs of boots, and they were not. Conversely, MS had great skis. And her boots sure as heck worked! Both surprise me a bit. It may be that they were merely "running well", and that the pilot herself just killed it! "Murdered it!" I'm going with that one.

So, so happy for her.
Perhaps the feeling that she shows here at 1:47 is some indication...
 
Thread Starter
TS
Tricia

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OK.....

Now, I'm beyond impressed. I'm absolutely blown away. I would have bet the farm that this would not happen. Shows what I do not know!

Just incredible. Wow. And we have one more day of racing there.

Yikes! Just tremendous.
Holy WOW!!
I just watched the race. I can't believe how she recovered and blew it away. Many other racers would have blown up.
I'm not sure if the settings on this will allow an embed, but we'll try, otherwise, go to the link.
 
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Thread Starter
TS
Tricia

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I agree it is more than gliding, she is working it! Every ripple & bit of terrain like a pump track. I would expect that she has the fastest possible skis & Atomic has historically provided some rockets but it takes a superior pilot to fly them.
I remember when you started a thread about Mikaela Shiffrin on Epic several years ago. I think the opening line was something like...
This girl is something to watch. She is the next big thing. (Or something like that)

How do you feel about that now? :popcorn:
 

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