Overall World Cup champion returns to the slopes in advance of the 2017-18 onslaught.
Mikaela Shiffrin is confident that an off-season of suffering in the gym has put her in the shape of her life going into the coming season. And now she adds a new kind of training to the mix – indoor skiing.
Shiffrin won her first overall World Cup title last season and her fourth slalom World Cup adding to an already impressive CV, which includes Olympic gold and three world titles.
Shiffrin allowed Red Bull’s cameras to follow her around during an off-season which ranged from a trip to the races at Chantilly on the outskirts of Paris to an intense three-day training session indoors in Wittenberg, Germany– remarkably her first experience of skiing indoors.
Of the latter experience in the ski hall, she admitted: “It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen. We’re sleeping, eating and skiing all in the same building. I don’t know how to explain it. I don’t know why it seems so odd. You walk outside and it’s summer and you walk inside and it’s winter.”
But it was a chance to test her fitness regimen on what was effectively a 20-second slalom run.
Shiffrin is tipped to dominate the slalom again this season and is a potential candidate for the overall title. The first step in the long journey begins this weekend, with the world certainly fixated on the woman who ended last year on top.
Part 3: Inside Out in Germany – available today
Part 4: New peaks in Chile – available November 20
Previously:
Part 1: Summer Grind
“I have to go harder because somebody else out there is” Mikaela Shiffrin showcases her gains in the gym, through her intense two-a-day workouts in Park City, Utah.
Part 2: An American Girl in Paris
“Elegance is the name of the game here”. Though vacation days are rare for the World Cup champion, Mikaela Shiffrin found a few days this summer to explore Paris for the first time. Along with walking through the City of Love and being a tourist, she also served as host at the Grand Prix de Diane Longines horse race in Chantilly, France. She traded her ski helmet and boots for fancy hat and heels for the day.
