American two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and World Cup alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin called out an “unprofessional” delay during the start of the second run of the giant slalom in Jasna, Slovakia. During the competition, the American missing a 70th World Cup victory by the Slovakian rival Petra Vlhova.
Mikaela Shiffrin was the first-run leader by 0.16 of a second over Vlhova. However, she was held at the start for two and a half minutes while at least two workers fixed a gate. According to her, the delay was done on purpose, calling it “unprofessional” and “ridiculous” while not taking away from Vlhova’s 19th World Cup victory.
“That should take 30 seconds. I just felt like she’s a good enough skier to win these races on her own and doesn’t need this unprofessional act from something that she doesn’t have control over, or I don’t have control over, but just [for others] to say, oh, she’s in the lead, and let’s see if we can do something to, I don’t know, get in my head or something. I have to handle those situations better, because it happens more often than you think. But that was frustrating because I could have come down in third anyway, she would have won”, said Mikaela Shiffrin. “It’s just a bit ridiculous, and that’s really obvious”, added she.
Vlhova prevailed by .16 over New Zealand’s Alice Robinson for an extra meaningful victory, while Mikaela Shiffrin remained third.
