Perfect in slalom, Mikaela Shiffrin has big plans ahead of Olympics

Mikaela Shiffrin has plenty to celebrate this Christmas.

The American skiing standout is off to a perfect start in slalom during the Olympic season — with four wins in four World Cup races. And she's regaining her form in other disciplines, too, following the two biggest crashes of her career.

"This season so far I had the ability to like bring top level turns in those pressure moments," Shiffrin said. "The world when they're watching thinks there's no pressure because I have a big lead or I did it the race before but every single time I stand in the start it's like a new situation and I found a way so far. I found a way to dig really deep to find that quality skiing. But it's not straightforward. It takes so much effort."

This weekend, Shiffrin returns to the Austrian resort of Semmering where she's claimed seven of her record 105 World Cup victories. On two occasions, Shiffrin has claimed three victories in three days in Semmering — in 2016 and in 2022.

This season there are just two races: a giant slalom on Saturday and then a slalom on Sunday.

While Shiffrin has won a record 22 World Cup giant slaloms, she hasn't been on the podium in the discipline since before her nasty crash in Killington, Vt., last season — which left her with a deep puncture wound in her side and severe trauma to her oblique muscles.

But Shiffrin has been getting closer in giant slalom, finishing fourth twice this season, including in the last race in Tremblant, Que.

"It's just going to keep taking time," she said. "I want to just keep improving or maybe get repetition from the slalom level."

Shiffrin also recently entered a super-G in St. Moritz, Switzerland, for her first speed event since crashing in a downhill in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy,