Shiffrin in GS

Shiffrin in GS

Postby jbotti » Sat Jan 06, 2018 10:54 am

I don't think anyone is surprised that Shiffrin is dominating slalom. She is so far ahead of the field in that discipline that it is truly a surprise when she doesn't win by more than second. But she is also starting to dominate GS which maybe is not a surprise to some. Still if you look back 2-3 years ago she was maybe a top ten GS skier but rarely on the podium. Last year showed the first sign of a breakout when she won several GS races. This year it is starting to look like that if she is on her game in GS that she can't be beat. I think she is finally getting used to the speeds in GS and trusting her ability to arc at speed more and more (instead of the huge amount of stivoting we were regularly seeing out of her in the past). With this occurring she is becoming the Marcel Hisrcher on the women's side. I don't know if anyone will ever win 6 straight overall titles as he has but Shiffrin certainly appears poised to win several overall titles. And as far as win totals if this keeps up she will shatter Stenmark's record by the time she hits 30 (she is only 22 and has 39 wins). At some point in her career she will start to score regularly in the top 5 in SG and at that point assuming she still dominates Slalom and is always in contention in GS its going to be very hard for anyone to take the overall from her.

It continues to be so much fun to watch her progress. She was not a great GS skier several years ago. She keeps improving in each discipline.

I think I am wrong, after today's GS win in Kranska Gora she now has 40 career wins. Wow!!
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Re: Shiffrin in GS

Postby jbotti » Sun Jan 07, 2018 9:09 am

So I was wrong yesterday. Today in the slalom was Shiffrin's 40th win.
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Re: Shiffrin in GS

Postby h.harb » Sun Jan 07, 2018 12:16 pm

Shiffrin should be winning, by a lot, she is the most talented and gifted skier in the women's field. However, she is not perfect, or as good a technical skier as Marlis Schild was or Marcel Hirscher is. She often skis stiff legged, leaning in, and spreads her skis way too far, casing her to use a wide step to the new ski. And this is not resulting from mistakes. It is directly attributable to her boot set up.

On my Blog recently, I wrote about her best skiing. If she could ski like she did when her boots were right, she would have started winning GS earlier. Her loses and close calls in slalom are due to her boots. Sure they have been experimenting around with the boots since the early loses in the season, and it's slightly better. However look at Hirscher now, he's perfect. His team has figured out his set up and it's amazing. He is skiing so relaxed, everything is working. At the last Olympics, his boots were way off, hopefully this time, they leave things as they are.
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Re: Shiffrin in GS

Postby jbotti » Tue Jan 09, 2018 2:03 pm

That's now 10 wins on the season (after Flachau today) which is entering the elite zone!! My guess is that Hirscher wins 10 or more this year (he has 7 already) but his best so far in a season is 9. Stenmark and Hermann Maier each won 13X in a season. Vreni Schneider won 14X one year. Its not crazy to think that Mikaela could equal or surpass that record. Amazing stuff.
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Re: Shiffrin in GS

Postby jbotti » Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:39 am

It is stunning that she is again on the podium in a Downhill, which is her third this season. She is moving in the direction of becoming the most dominant all around skier in history. She hasn't had a lot of success in SG yet and one would think that this would have come sooner than in DH but perhaps getting training runs in DH makes a little easier for her than without any in SG.
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Re: Shiffrin in GS

Postby h.harb » Fri Jan 19, 2018 7:29 pm

The FIS is checking her for steroids now? Her father has a history with it, and a conviction.
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Re: Shiffrin in GS

Postby jbotti » Sat Jan 20, 2018 3:47 pm

Knowing what we all know about swimming, Track and Field, Cycling where 80% or higher of those on podiums are likely doping in some fashion, why should any of us be surprised if it turns out that 80% of those on podiums in skiing are doing the same. Anyone that reads and wants to learn about this area knows that testing is always behind the science of doping and therefore a large % of those doping never get caught. Looking at photos of Hisrcher's thighs when he was 20 versus today (where they are about twice as big today) would anyone be surprised if it turned out that he was doping? But in the end skiing is still a skill sport and superior strength and athleticism alone will not get one on the podium.

But clearly it is impossible to watch any sports today without wondering. Of course none of us has any real way of knowing one way or the other. Its not like cycling where if you are within spitting distance of Lance's power numbers and hill climb times its pretty much proven that it's physically impossible without PED's. That's why few were surprised when Froome tested positive at the Vuelta this year. But skiing is different.
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