Mikaela Shiffrin changed her mind and decided to enter a World Cup super-G in Val d’Isere, France, on Sunday.
Shiffrin said last Sunday that she would skip this weekend’s speed races -- a downhill on Saturday (4:30 a.m., Peacock) in addition to Sunday’s super-G (5 a.m., Peacock) -- to focus on training her primary events of slalom and giant slalom.
“I was not at all planning on going to Val d’Isere but we decided just last night to give it a go in the Super G… so here goes somethin’!” was posted on Shiffrin’s social media on Thursday.
Shiffrin will race at Val d’Isere, a regular World Cup speed venue, for the first time (outside of a 2013 giant slalom).
Shiffrin’s plan this season has been to work up to racing all five individual events at the Beijing Olympics. In 2018, for the first time since the super-G was added to the Olympic program in 1988, none of the Alpine skiing medalists raced in all five events.
Shiffrin has been impressive in limited super-G action this year -- bronze at the world championships in February, then finishes of sixth, third and third in World Cup races this month.
If Shiffrin continues to race every World Cup slalom and giant slalom, then she will compete at 10 consecutive World Cup stops from Nov. 20 through Jan. 11, with the potential to extend that with more speed races before the Winter Games open Feb. 4.
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