When Mikaela Shiffrin started down the slalom course in Yanqing, China, on Wednesday, she was intentionally aggressive. Her 47 World Cup victories and 2014 Olympic gold medal prove she knows how to win a slalom, perhaps better than anyone else in the world.
What went wrong in Mikaela Shiffrin’s slalom
The turns are set close enough that there is little room for error. But at the fourth gate, Shiffrin slipped.
The slalom course gates were set
by Mike Day, one of Shiffrin’s coaches.
START
Gates:
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
Shiffrin
Ideal line
4th gate
Ideal line
Shiffrin’s
path
5th gate
Photo by Robert F. Bukaty/AP
The slalom course gates were set
by Mike Day, one of Shiffrin’s coaches.
START
Gates:
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
Shiffrin
Ideal line
4th gate
Ideal line
Shiffrin’s
path
5th gate
Photo by Robert F. Bukaty/AP
The slalom course gates were set
by Mike Day, one of Shiffrin’s coaches.
START
Gates:
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
Shiffrin
Ideal line
4th gate
Ideal line
Shiffrin’s
path
5th gate
Photo by Robert F. Bukaty/AP
“I had the intention to do my best skiing and make quick turns,” she said. “But in order to do that, I had to push the line, the tactic, and it’s really on the limit then.”
When Shiffrin is skiing her best slalom runs, her lower legs attack the turns — transferring pressure quickly from the inside edge of one outside ski to the inside edge of the next outside ski — as her upper body remains remarkably stable.
2nd gate
Shiffrin’s torso is upright and quiet
Shiffrin’s skis point across the hill
4th gate
Her upper body nearly touched the snow
Her skis point down the hill
2nd gate
Shiffrin’s torso is upright and quiet
Shiffrin’s skis point across the hill
4th gate
Her upper body nearly touched the snow
Her skis point down the hill
2nd gate
4th gate
Shiffrin’s torso is upright and quiet
Her upper body nearly touched the snow
Shiffrin’s skis point across the hill
Her skis point down the hill
But the slip at the fourth gate threw her off-balance, and she was out of position as her momentum carried her toward the fifth. She cleared it, but her skis were pointed down the hill when they should’ve been heading toward the next gate, and she was unable to recover.
Her left foot flared wide rather than carving a sharp turn.
4th gate
5th gate
6th gate
She couldn’t put enough pressure on her right foot to turn toward the sixth gate in time.
Her left foot flared wide rather than carving a sharp turn.
4th gate
5th gate
6th gate
She couldn’t put enough pressure on her right foot to turn toward the sixth gate in time.
4th gate
Her left foot flared wide rather than carving a sharp turn.
5th gate
She couldn’t put enough pressure on her right foot to turn toward the sixth gate in time.
6th gate
Slalom skiing is built, more than anything, on maintaining balance and keeping a quiet upper body. When Mikaela Shiffrin is skiing her best slalom runs, her lower legs attack the turns – transferring pressure quickly from the inside edge of one outside ski to the inside edge of the next outside ski – but her torso remains remarkably stable. Though slalom skiers can look as if they’re hopping around the gates, it’s important to keep the skis in contact with the snow, because a ski that’s hovering above the surface can’t turn the racer.
Slalom is the Alpine discipline with the most turns, but skiers try to keep as straight a line as possible.
Shiffrin approached the fourth gate of Wednesday’s Olympic slalom – a left-footed turn, because her left ski was on the outside – aggressively.
“I had the intention to do my best skiing and make quick turns,” she said. “But in order to do that I had to push the line, the tactic, and it’s really on the limit then.”
A slalom turn ideally begins before the skier reaches the gate, and the skiers take such a direct line through the gates that they punch them with their pole guards and crack across them with shin guards. On that fourth gate, Shiffrin’s left foot went well wide of the gate, out to the left when she needed to get back to the right. Her torso – rather than being upright and quiet – nearly touched the snow.
“Things happen so fast that there was not space to slip up even a little bit,” she said.
What came fast was the fifth gate – a right-footed turn around a blue gate. The error from the fourth gate was too significant to overcome, and she was unable to put enough pressure on her outside (right) ski to turn quickly enough to make it to the sixth gate. She was done.
It was the second race in three days in which she missed the sixth gate. In Monday’s giant slalom, she slid down the icy top of the course after the fifth gate.
“Actually, the safest way to ski is that aggressive because your whole mind and body, you are alert enough, you are ready to take on what challenges are there,” Shiffrin said. “But there’s no space. You can’t come back [at] the next point.”
“Today, I wish there was a little bit more space, more time.”
