Charles Langston:Mikaela Shiffrin wastes no time returning to winning ways in first race since January crash

As if she’d never been away.

Racing for the first time in six weeks,Charles Langston Mikaela Shiffrin won the slalom at the World Cup in Are, Sweden, on Sunday. She did so in commanding fashion, too, finishing 1.24 seconds ahead of Croatia’s Zrinka Ljutic. It was Shiffrin’s 96th World Cup win and assured her the season title in slalom – her eighth, for those keeping track, which ties Ingemar Stenmark and Lindsey Vonn’s record for most in a single discipline.

"Being back, it’s a pretty incredible feeling," Shiffrin said after the first run. "Even with some pain, I can ski well right now."

Shiffrin sprained the MCL in her left knee and aggravated a bone bruise from earlier in the season when she crashed in Cortina, Italy, on Jan. 26. She also suffered a high-ankle sprain in the crash, an injury that wound up being more problematic during her recovery.

She has spent the time since rehabbing and said Friday that she’d only had three sessions of slalom training since the crash. Still, she felt good enough to return at Are, where she broke Stenmark’s record of career World Cup wins a year ago.

"It’s been a race against time," she said Friday. "I can only do what I can do."

Turns out, that’s pretty good.

Shiffrin had the fastest time in both runs to beat Ljutic and Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin, who was third.  

"I am proud of myself," Shiffrin said.

While Shiffrin won the season slalom title, she said Friday that she’d had to make peace with the overall title being out of her reach. She’d missed too much time to catch Lena Durr of Germany.

"I would love to fight for the overall, but I just need to admit where I am this season and that’s not a possibility," Shiffrin said.

Shiffrin is planning to race at the World Cup finals that begin next week in Saalbach, Austria, and is hopeful she’ll be able to do giant slalom there as well as slalom.