SALZBURG, Austria (AP) — After two major crashes the last two seasons, one that led to a battle with PTSD and a worrisome drop in her rankings points, American skiing standout Mikaela Shiffrin is entering the upcoming Olympic season on a more positive note.
“My confidence is getting better, generally I feel more comfortable,” Shiffrin told The Associated Press in an interview on Thursday.
She's still not ready to race in downhills again, however, and might drop super-G as well in a reduced World Cup schedule ahead of the Milan-Cortina Olympics.
Shiffrin is content to compete in slalom and giant slalom — her two best disciplines — and maybe super-G as she rebuilds her confidence following two injury-marred campaigns. She says there is “no chance” she will compete in downhill this season, while super-G is off the schedule until at least mid-December.
The World Cup season starts with a women's giant slalom on an Austrian glacier on Oct. 25, followed by a men's race the next day.
Shiffrin has trained “a little bit of super-G” during the offseason, but the American says she is not ready to race yet in that event.
“I need more super-G training days in order to feel comfortable to race,” she said, adding she is planning one start in the discipline — in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on Dec. 14.
“If it’s in a really good spot, then we can think about continuing, and if it’s not, then we can put that off to after the Olympics,” Shiffrin said at a media event hosted by her equipment supplier Atomic.
The technical events of slalom and GS have always been Shiffrin’s strongest disciplines, though she got nine of her record 101 career World Cup wins in speed events – five in super-G, four in downhill.
The American hasn’t competed in the speed disciplines since hurting her knee in a downhill crash on the Olympic course in Cortina d’Ampezzo in January 2024. Her last super-G start was in December 2023, when she skied out and didn’t finish the race in Val d’Isere, France.
Prior to the 2024-25 season, Shiffrin had already decided to skip the downhills for the foreseeable future, but at the same time planned to race in as many super-G events as her schedule would permit.
However, in a giant slalom crash at her home races in Killington, Vermont in November, something punctured Shiffrin’s side and caused severe damage to her oblique muscles.
Shiffrin returned two months later but reduced her schedule for the rest of the season to her core events of slalom and GS, still earning career wins 100 and 101 in the process and taking gold with Breezy Johnson in the team combined event at the world championships in Austria.
The American suffered for months from lingering post-traumatic stress disorder following her giant slalom crash, but said after the season she was finally feeling “like myself again” when racing GS.
During her summer training camps, most recently in Ushuaia, Argentina, Shiffrin and her team put extra emphasis on GS.
“I have been prioritizing GS, like trying to get as much repetition in GS as possible, and I have done quite a lot more volume in GS than in past years,” Shiffrin said.
Even 14 years after making her debut in top-level ski racing and setting the record for most race wins, winning five overall titles, eight slalom season titles and two Olympic gold medals, the American acknowledged being nervous going into the new campaign.
“I still feel jitters, I probably feel more nervous with each season because I know how hard it is to be really successful – and how much I want to be successful,” the American said. "I feel like I have better skiing to explore, so that is where my motivation is right now.”
AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
FILE - United States' Mikaela Shiffrin speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Sestriere, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati, File)
FILE - Mikaela Shiffrin, of the United States, crashes during the second run of a women's World Cup giant slalom skiing race, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Killington, Vt. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
FILE - United States' Mikaela Shiffrin poses with her commemorative skis for her 100th victory after an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Sestriere, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati, File)
NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand (AP) — A construction crane collapsed onto an elevated road near Bangkok, killing two people on Thursday, a day after another crane fell on a moving passenger train in northeastern Thailand and killed 32 people.
The work on an extension of the Rama 2 Road expressway — a major artery leading from Bangkok — has become notorious for construction accidents, some of them fatal.
The crane collapsed at part of the road project in Samut Sakhon province, trapping two vehicles in the wreckage, according to the government’s Public Relations Department.
Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said on Thai TV Channel 7 that two people had died. It was unclear if anyone else had been trapped in the wreckage.
There was uncertainty about the number of victims because the site is still considered too dangerous for search teams to enter, said Suchart Tongteng, a rescue worker with the Ruamkatanyu Foundation.
“At this moment, we still can’t say whether another collapse could happen,” he said, citing dangling steel plates. “That’s why there are no rescue personnel inside the scene, only teams conducting on-site safety assessments.”
At the site of Wednesday's train derailment, the search for survivors ended, Nakhon Ratchasima Gov. Anuphong Suksomnit said. Three passengers listed as missing were presumed to have gotten off the train earlier, but that was still being investigated.
Officials believed 171 people had been aboard the train’s three carriages, which were being removed from the scene Thursday.
The crane that fell, crushing part of the train, was a launching gantry crane, a mobile piece of equipment often used in building elevated roadways.
Police were still collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses and have not pressed charges, provincial Police Chief Narongsak Promta told reporters.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry reported a South Korean man in his late 30s, was among the dead.
The high-speed rail project where the accident occurred is associated with the plan to connect China with Southeast Asia under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.
In August 2024, a railway tunnel on the planned route, also in Nakhon Ratchasima, collapsed, killing three workers.
Anan Phonimdaeng, acting governor of the State Railway of Thailand, said the project’s contractor is Italian-Thai Development, with a Chinese company responsible for design and construction supervision.
A statement posted on the website of the company, also known as Italthai, expressed condolences to the victims and said the company would pay compensation to the families of the dead and hospitalization expenses for the injured.
Transport Minister Phiphat said Italthai was also the lead contractor on the highway project where Thursday's accident took place, though several other companies are also involved.
The rail accident had already sparked outrage because Italthai was also the co-lead contractor for the State Audit Building in Bangkok that collapsed during construction last March during a major earthquake centered in Myanmar. The building's collapse was the worst quake damage in Thailand and about 100 people were killed.
Twenty-three individuals and companies have been indicted, including Italthai's president and the local director for the company China Railway No. 10, the project’s joint venture partner. The charges in the case include professional negligence and document forgery, and Thailand's Department of Special Investigation has recommended more indictments.
The involvement of Chinese companies in both projects has also drawn attention, as has Italthai and Chinese companies’ involvement in the construction of several expressway extensions in and around Bangkok where several accidents, some fatal, have occurred.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Wednesday the government was aware of the rail accident and had expressed condolences.
Associated Press writers Wasamon Audjarint in Bangkok and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
Relatives of victims and others wait at a hospital, a day after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Relatives wait at a hospital to receive bodies of victims, a day after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Forensic workers inspect the site of a train accident, a day after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A cuddly toy lies on the ground at the site of a train accident, a day after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A construction crane that collapsed on the Rama 2 Road elevated expressway in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Arnun Chonmahatrakool)
A construction crane that collapsed on the Rama 2 Road elevated expressway in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Arnun Chonmahatrakool)
A construction crane that collapsed on the Rama 2 Road elevated expressway in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Arnun Chonmahatrakool)
