Mikaela Shiffrin finished second in her first race since the Olympics, breaking her tie with Petra Vlhova for the World Cup overall standings lead.
“After the last couple of weeks, I really appreciate this,” said Shiffrin, who had a best Olympic finish of ninth in five individual events. “I’ve been actually pretty awful to be around with my team. They’re trying to lift me up a bit. Not because of the Olympics, but of course it’s a big part of it. It’s just been heavy. Everything felt really, really heavy on my mind and on my heart.
“I finally just actually enjoyed skiing for a day. I just want to focus on that.”
France’s Romane Miradoli was the surprise super-G winner in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. The 27-year-old’s best previous individual finish in 126 World Cup starts was fifth.
Shiffrin, .38 of a second behind, notched her best super-G result since Jan. 26, 2020, when she won in her last race before her father’s death.
Olympic champion Lara Gut-Behrami was third.
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Vlhova was 18th, so Shiffrin took a 67-point lead in a close competition for the overall title, the biggest annual prize in ski racing combining results in all disciplines over the World Cup season.
A notable spectator was Roger Federer, who met with skiers including Shiffrin at the bottom of the course. Federer and Shiffrin share a sponsor in Barilla and have appeared in a commercial together.
There are seven more races scheduled in the 37-race season, starting with a giant slalom in Lenzerheide on Sunday.
Shiffrin won three consecutive World Cup overall titles in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Vlhova is the reigning champion.
With a fourth crown, Shiffrin can tie Lindsey Vonn for second place in women’s history, trailing only Austrian Annemarie Moser-Pröll, who won six in the 1970s.
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