Mikaela Shiffrin Had Always Won A Medal In The Slalom At Worlds. She's Fine With 5th This Time

All that talk about a record-breaking 16th medal . And extending her perfect run of six medals in six career slalom races at the world championships.

Mikaela Shiffrin's array of international fans who gathered in the Austrian Alps may have entertained the thought of witnessing those achievements when the American stood third after the opening run Saturday, waving American flags and holding up signs dedicated to the most successful skier of all time.

Shiffrin herself, though, never quite expected much of anything beyond where she ultimately finished, fifth, in only her second full slalom race since she suffered severe trauma to her oblique muscles and a deep puncture wound that left her insides draining out of the side of her abdomen during a crash in a giant slalom in Killington, Vermont, 10 weeks ago.

"Today was just right in line with my expectations," Shiffrin said. "It's a strange place to be returning from surgery eight weeks ago, from laying in bed with a drainage tube six weeks ago, to return mid-season in the middle of world championships where everybody is talking about the medals and all the other athletes are fighting and on their top form. And I'm trying to figure out where I even stand in the sport."

While Shiffrin did pair with Breezy Johnson to win a gold in the new team combined event at these worlds, she also withdrew from defending her giant slalom title because of "PTSD-eque" fears related to her fall in Killington.