What happened to Mikaela Shiffrin at the World Cup opener? All about the American's return to the circuit in hopes to create history

Mikaela Shiffrin, has had a slow start to her 2024-2025 World Cup season as she finished fifth in Soelden, Austria. The American was in the lead after the first run, but was unable to get similar times on her second run, pushing her out of the top 3.

For Shiffrin, this year marks her 15th season on the world cup circuit, and offers her a chance to become the first skier in history to claim 100 world cup wins. The 29-year-old suffered a scary crash in Cortina d'Ampezzo last year, which forced her to miss several races.

While she got back on the slopes six weeks later in Are, Sweden, this season opener in Soelden marked Shiffrin's first time competing in the giant slalom since her accident. The American got her campaign in Austria of to a strong start, clocking a 1:05.82 on her first run to lead the pack.

However, in an uncharacteristic performance, Shiffrin was unable to put up similar times in her second run. Her slow second run saw her toal time come to 2:17.26, placing her fifth as Federica Brignone, Alice Robinson, and Julie Scheib finished on the podium.

Speaking on her performance, Mikaela Shiffrin explained that she needed more time to find the right intensity, telling Austrian broadcaster ORF,

“Clearly just need a little bit more time to dial in the right intensity. Normally these differences are kind of simple to fix. Just requires some determination. I tried to take some risk, but maybe in the wrong way.”

She went on to add that she was happy to be competing, and further broke down her performance.

“I’m just happy to be here. If I miss the timing, then I’m just kind of fighting against the tracks the whole way down. This hill, if you are fighting it, then it is so slow,” she was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

Mikaela Shiffrin celebrates Team USA's finish in Soelden

Mikaela Shiffrin at the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Finals - Source: Getty

While Mikaela Shiffrin was unable to get her season off to a winning start, the race in Soelden, Austria marked an overall positive for Team USA. Outside of Shiffrin's fifth-place finish, her compatriot Katie Hensien took fourth, Nina O'brien took seventh, and Paulta Moltzab placed eleventh.

After the race, Shiffrin took to her Instagram to celebrate her teammate’s performance and show her excitement for the upcoming season, writing,

“Omggg...four in the top 11 and best U.S. women's GS team result since 1985?!?! Holy moly! Major congratulations to Katie Hensien and Nina O'brien on their UNREAL comeback race, and the podium for sending it! Happy to be back in the GS race start and I'm looking forward to the next few weeks of prep before the bulk of the season begins!

After the race in Soelden, Mikaela Shiffrin now has some down time in her hands before she heads to Levi, Finland to compete in the slalom event.