Shiffrin also won Olympic gold in slalom at the age of 18 at the 2014 Sochi Games and then added a gold in giant slalom and a silver in combined at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
Without longtime rival Petra Vlhova, who is still out after tearing the ACL in her right knee last season during a giant slalom in her native Slovakia, Shiffrin’s biggest challengers in the slalom could be from younger racers who have broken through recently or during her absence.
Even without much racing in her legs, Shiffrin was able to put down the third-fastest slalom run in the combined, 0.39 seconds behind Swiss skier Wendy Holdener, who had the fastest run and will be among her rivals on Saturday.
It was also Shiffrin’s eighth gold in the biggest skiing event outside of the Olympics — with four of those victories having come in slalom.
But these are different times for Shiffrin, who recently shared details of the “PTSD-eque” fears she has had since her crash — which prompted her not to defend her giant slalom title on Thursday.
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