Shiffrin 2.0 Steps In To the Spotlight
The first half of 2018 was remarkable for Mikaela Shiffrin. During the season that began in late 2017 and concluded in the spring of 2018, she podiumed 18 times and won 12 World Cup races in three of the sport’s four disciplines. Her three downhill podiums — including a win in Canada and a stunning third on the tough Cortina, Italy course — silenced doubters about her ability and progression in downhill and Super-G.
Shiffrin then won a gold and a silver at the Olympics in South Korea and wrapped it all up in March by taking the world overall crown for the second year in a row.
And yet, Shiffrin struggles under the mantle of greatness. Fans, sponsors, media, and Shiffrin herself, have come to expect evermore podiums. Even in a golden year like 2018 — where she clobbered the field in the final slalom of the season, beating the second-place finisher by almost two seconds — she feels like she could have carried more speed, won more medals, taken more risks. Just more.
At least, this is the way some see it. The end of 2018 came with a smattering of ho-hum reactions from the press and some fans. In the weeks leading up to the Olympics, Shiffrin had been set up as a possible five medal winner. Only two?! Bah, c’mon!
Shiffrin herself, in a recent interview, concedes both annoyance at the criticism and a touch of disappointment with her Olympic results. Although pleased with her skiing in the three events she entered, she chafes when she recalls the weather challenges, the ensuing schedule changes (which led her to skip the downhill and Super-G), and the resulting inability to achieve more medals. She also believes she and her team made some miscalculations in the weeks before the Olympics, leading to ill-timed fatigue at the onset of the games.
Shiffrin at the ESPYs held this July in Los Angeles. The skiing star made time for red carpet events this summer, including attending the French Open final and the Cannes Film Festival. Image Credit: GEPA
The 2017-2018 season nevertheless puts Shiffrin, at 23, in the constellation of greats of alpine skiing. Only one other female skier in the 52 years of World Cups has won more World Cup races in a single year, just one of among several of her astonishing records. What’s more, she’s on track to win more World Cups than anyone, ever (another expectation).
The curious thing is, if you consider what captures where Shiffrin is in her life, and in her growth as a modern-day competitor, you do not find it in the gates; rather, you find it after the season ended, when she accepted invitations to enjoy some fun in the Caribbean with her boyfriend, and then to attend the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity followed by the French Open finals in Paris.
“There’s a balance I’m starting to find, and that I’m ready to find, between the work — doing my job on snow and doing my job in the gym, always with the focus I bring to my sport — and saying to myself ‘I want to do this, I want to have that experience,’ ” Shiffrin said in a recent interview.
“The point that I am in life is great,” she emphasized, then adds: “But if it was two years ago I probably would have said ‘no (to Cannes and the French Open), I have to be home and do my workout program and I can’t travel during that time and I can’t do that extra media.’ But, I’m starting to take advantage of those opportunities now because they’re things I would love to do and I would have done (in the past) in a heartbeat if I had not always had that nagging thought that by doing something fun like going to t