CNN
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Mikaela Shiffrin failed to qualify for a second run in a giant slalom event for the first time since 2012 while competiting at a World Cup race in Sestriere, Italy on Saturday, since she finished outside the top 30 skiers.
For so long, Shiffrin has been used to dominating alpine skiing. But she was competing in the giant slalom for just the second time since suffering a puncture wound to her abdomen and severe muscle trauma when she crashed out the event the event at a race in November.
As a result of the crash, Shiffrin says she has suffered from PTSD and withdrew from the giant slalom event at the world championships earlier this month.
She finished her run at Sestriere on Saturday in 1:05.73, two and a half seconds slower than the early leader Alice Robinson and in 33rd place, outside the qualifying positions.
That performance followed her return to the event on Friday when she finished 25th, after finishing the first run in 18th place.
“It’s a bit confusing the last few weeks for me to be so disconnected with how I’m trying to feel and how … it really skis,” she told Eurosport on Friday. “It’s really positive to have this race, it’s kind of like the next step in the training.”
Not since October 2012, when she was 17 years old, has Shiffrin failed to qualify for the second run in a giant slalom, but she expects to continue fighting for qualification in this event at least until the end of the season.
“Now, for the rest of the season, my goal is sort of fighting for some points so I can try to stay in the top 30 in (grand slalom), which is a very different position from the last many years when I was fighting for podiums. That’s not where I am right now and that’s ok,” she added.