She was the beam woman, the guarantee of success who caused a sensation in the alpine ski circus at a young age: Mikaela Shiffrin.
Last winter changed a lot for the now 25-year-old popular figure from the USA.
On February 2, her father Jeff died unexpectedly of a head injury sustained in an accident at home.
Shiffrin immediately traveled home.
The five-time world champion and two-time Olympic champion returned to the World Cup at the end of November and won another race in mid-December: the Courchevel giant slalom.
It was the 67th World Cup victory of her career - so she moved to third place in the all-time best list with the Austrian Marcel Hirscher.
"Somehow it feels like my first win," she said through tears.
Question:
Ms. Shiffrin, you have had an extremely difficult year.
Your father Jeff died unexpectedly in February at the age of 65. You recently competed again for the first time after a 300-day break, and then even won on December 14th - how emotional was it for you?