Reindeer number 7 for Mikaela Shiffrin: “I save one thing at a time”

The stable is filling up: With her slalom victory on Sunday ahead of Leona Popovic (Cro/+0.18 seconds) and Lena Dürr (D/+0.30), Mikaela Shiffrin was on top of the podium in Levi, Finland for the seventh time – like this often like no one before. And for the seventh time, the American received a reindeer as her prize.

“I save them one by one,” joked the 28-year-old, who, like the other victorious skiers, leaves the animals in a stable in Finland. In Lapland, where there is a Santa Claus village in Rovaniemi, it is fitting that Shiffrin named one of her animals Rudolph.

Until Sunday, Shiffrin had had little to smile about in this young season. She was in the hospital last week because of a bad training fall and competed in Levi with an injured knee:

And if Saturday winner Petra Vlhova hadn’t used her huge lead of 1.06 seconds, Shiffrin’s 89th World Cup victory probably wouldn’t have happened. “Petra’s performance this weekend was a lesson. She was so far ahead, I think she deserved this win,” said Shiffrin.

Collective liberation

Katharina Liensberger was the best Austrian in eighth place yesterday (+1.41). The day before, the Vorarlberg woman (3rd) achieved a breakthrough with her first slalom podium place in a year and a half.

In view of the completely unsuccessful experiment with a private trainer last year, the 26-year-old spoke of a “huge relief”. Liensberger was still under this impression when she happily reflected on the Levi weekend yesterday, “because I notice that my skiing feels good.”

Behind Liensberger, Katharina Huber (11th/+1.94) was again the second best Austrian yesterday. Marie-Therese Sporer used the light advantage of her previous number to set a career best (13th). In just over two weeks the technicians will continue their work in Killington (USA). Next weekend, however, the speed specialists are hoping to compete in Zermatt/Cervinia for the first time this season.