Mikaela Shiffrin feeling pressure after fourth straight slalom World Cup win in Courchevel - 'They're pushing like hell'

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Skiing sensation Mikaela Shiffrin admitted she was feeling the pressure from her competitors despite a fourth straight slalom World Cup win. Shiffrin said her competitors were "pushing like hell" even though she defeated closest challenger Camille Rast of Switzerland by 1.55 seconds in Courchevel to continue her perfect start to the slalom season with the Winter Olympics fast approaching.

'Untouchable!' - Shiffrin maintains perfect start to Olympic season with victory in Courchevel

Video credit: TNT Sports

Skiing sensation Mikaela Shiffrin admitted she was feeling the pressure despite a fourth straight slalom World Cup win, with her main competitors "pushing like hell."

Shiffrin continued her unbeaten start to the World Cup slalom season in Courchevel, beating nearest challenger Camille Rast by 1.55 seconds.

That extended her superb start to the season, in which she has won each of her four slalom races by a margin of over 1.2s, and three of them, including Tuesday night's event, seeing the American win by at least 1.5s.

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After the opening run, she had already made it extremely difficult for all the other competitors, a first leg of 49.77 seeing only seven skiers within 2.2s of her and therefore almost out of contention.

When it came to the second run, Shiffrin continued as she left off and almost doubled her lead over Rast.

The victory in the French Alps took her to five wins on the bounce dating back to the final race of last season in March and made her the clear favourite to continue that run of form in Cortina at the 2026 Winter Olympics, live on TNT Sports and discovery+.

Despite this obscene dominance in the sport, Shiffrin insisted she has to keep improving, with the likes of Rast and fifth-placed compatriot Paula Moltzan keeping her on her toes.

She said: "I feel very strongly now that I just have to focus on my skiing, and I always say this. Sometimes it's hard to do that.

"So every year is a little different, but the work my team has been doing is phenomenal. Right now? Tonight? Don't ask questions, just ride the wave."

Shiffrin added to FIS: "Sometimes you've just got to take it and roll with it, because these women are pushing. They're pushing like hell, so I have to push too. It's a wonder that I made it to the finish this time."

It seems remarkable that, when making it look so easy and winning by such a margin, Shiffrin could have found either run challenging.

But the 30-year-old insisted it was much harder than it looked, particularly the second run.

"It's a little bit funny. On the night races, it's either a big release or I don't feel the emotions yet. But that was a tough second run. It was so quick," she said.

"Some turns had big tracks and some were just so good.

"It was a little bit hard to predict where it would be bumpy and where it was good to fly, so sometimes I had trouble staying on the course. But just stay dynamic and then it worked fine."

While the slalom has been going tremendously well for Shiffrin, the same cannot necessarily be said for her efforts in the giant slalom or super-G.

The 30-year-old did not finish in the latest super-G event in St. Moritz after she missed the penultimate gate, but placed fourth and sixth in the giant slalom in Tremblant earlier in December.

Shiffrin ‘relieved’ to leave Courchevel with World Cup slalom victory after ‘tough second run’

Video credit: TNT Sports

With the Olympics near and a second gold medal in the slalom very much on the cards, Shiffrin, never one to shy away from a challenge, is hoping to be in a position to right the wrongs of the 2022 Olympics, where she failed to medal at all, and challenge in two individual disciplines in Italy: the giant slalom and slalom.

She said: "I have some goals for my skiing that I would like to accomplish with GS [giant slalom] and it's just going to keep taking time. I want to keep improving or maybe get repetition from the slalom level.

"And then I will try to fit some super-G days in there just to feel more comfortable, because even if it's not the Olympics, super-G is a big goal of mine, to return to strong form in the super-G World Cup.

"It was so fun in St. Moritz. It was just a lot to take on that day, even with the perfect weather and perfect slope.

"It was so stressful, so I would like to bring my level back to being more comfortable there, but that's also going to take time."

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