Is Mikaela Shiffrin’s World no.1 Spot Under Imminent Threat From Top Rival?

The story didn’t end for Mikaela Shiffrin at the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022. That’s the thing about outstanding athletes. They are always under some sort of pressure and expectations to be the best. While the Beijing Winter Olympic was a disaster, another challenge was awaiting the two-times Olympic gold medalist at World Cup, which she has successfully dodged for the time being.

Mikaela Shiffrin left the Olympics empty-handed. Although she took part in all the events, her luck seem to have bailed on her. She was the top favorite going into the Beijing Winter Olympics and received a lot of criticism after her dismal performance.

How solid is Mikaela Shiffrin’s world number one position right now?

After an agonizing few weeks at Beijing Winter Olympics 2022, a new challenge confronted Mikaela Shiffrin at the skiing World Cup. The Slovakian skier Petra Vlhova, who is in remarkable form since her Olympic victory threatened Mikaela’s world number one standing. However, the US skier has avoided the threat to her position after she managed second place at the podium in the super-G event yesterday. She now has a full 67 world cup points lead over her Slovakian rival.

The battle to be the world number will continue between the two in the giant slalom on Sunday in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

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While Vlhova would look to finish what she started and claim the victory, Mikaela’s goal would be to come closer to her fourth World Cup title to join the club with another American skiing legend, Lindsey Vonn.

Petra Vlhova is a worthy rival

Petra Vlhova will look to defend her world cup title and prior to yesterday’s super-G, she had a good lead over Mikaela Shiffrin. The 26-year-old Slovakian skier defeated the world champion Katharina Liensberger in the last event of the calendar and now the only goal from here is to be the world number one.

The Beijing Winter Olympic gold medalist Vlhova is in a dominant form, as the world witnessed in the Olympics 2022. She is the only Slovakian to have won Olympic gold in skiing and she’ll be eying for her second consecutive World Cup victory.

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