How to Watch Mikaela Shiffrin at the Alpine Skiing World Cup originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Mikaela Shiffrin is ready to join in the reindeer games.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist returns to Levi, Finland this weekend to compete in the Alpine Skiing World Cup. The winner of the slalom races receives a reindeer. Yes, an actual reindeer.
The 26-year-old Shiffrin already owns four of them: Rudolph (2013), Sven (2016), Mr. Gru (2018) and Ingemar (2019).
Shiffrin named the latter reindeer in honor of legendary skier Ingemar Stenmark after breaking his record for most slalom titles in 2019.
How many career slalom wins does Mikaela Shiffrin have?
Shiffrin, who plans to race in all five individual events in the Beijing Olympics, enters this weekend looking to break Stenmark’s record for most World Cup victories in a single discipline. She enters with 45 career slalom wins, one behind Stenmark’s 46 giant slalom victories, meaning a sweep of this weekend’s races would make Shiffrin the new record-holder.
What is the status of Mikaela Shiffrin’s back injury?
The Beijing-bound Shiffrin goes for the record after having had limited preparation due to a lingering back injury that recently restricted her at the U.S. ski team’s training base in Colorado. Shiffrin aggravated the injury while winning her 70th career World Cup event on Oct. 23 during the season opener in Soelden, Austria.
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The injury added to what has been a trying stretch for Shiffrin, who was away from the sport for 10 months following the death of her father in February 2020.
“It is not a physical injury to a bone, or muscle, or ligament, but...the injury of a legitimate broken heart, that has been taking a long time to get over,” Shiffrin recently told the Associated Press. “And there is no road map, which is even scarier. I guess that is probably the biggest injury I will ever have in my career, no matter what will happen.”
With a heavy heart, she is back, looking to win more races, break more records and own more reindeer.
Here’s how to watch Shiffrin compete in this weekend’s race.
When is the Alpine Skiing World Cup?
The first run of the women’s slalom will take place on Saturday, Nov. 20, at 4:30 a.m. ET and Sunday, Nov. 21, at 4:30 a.m. ET. The second run will take place on Saturday, Nov. 21, at 7:30 a.m. ET and Sunday at 7:30 a.m. ET.
Where is the Alpine Skiing World Cup streaming?
The Alpine Skiing World Cup will stream on Peacock.
