There are no sure things in the unforgiving world of alpine skiing, where the margins are infinitesimal, the variables many and the most innocuous of mistakes can mean the difference between first place and disaster. That’s doubly true at the Olympics, which over the years have been a graveyard of favorites undone by the maddening unpredictabilities of race day: the course layout, the cloud cover, the snow type, who gets their wax right.
Mikaela Shiffrin, the world’s best slalom skier, may be the closest thing to a certainty as the Winter Games unfold this month in South Korea. Since the American prodigy became the youngest ever Olympic slalom gold medalist as a beaming teenager four years ago in Sochi, she’s tightened her grip on the sport’s most technical discipline like few before her, winning all three slalom world championships she’s competed in while branching out into the speed events with preternatural success.
The buzz around Shiffrin as she’s blossomed from specialist into possibly the world’s best all-around skier has reached deafening levels but never more than in the run-up to Pyeongchang, where if all breaks right she has a chance for as many as five medals, more than any alpine skier male or female at a single Olympics. She’s a prime contender for a record-tying three golds in the slalom, the giant slalom and the alpine combined – and possible medals in the super-G and downhill would push her past the all-time record of four, set by Croatia’s Janica Kostelic in 2002.
Shiffrin’s aptitude for the sport, particularly the technical events, was evident early on. She made her debut on the World Cup circuit at age 15 and reached her first podium only a few races later. By the time she was 17, she had won her first world slalom title and later added two more.
She solidified her ascendancy last season when she collected the overall World Cup title, a prize more coveted in the sport than Olympic gold, awarded to the best skier across all disciplines each season. And somehow, she’s found a way to continue improving, which surely must strike fear into the hearts of her rivals with the Olympics afoot.
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“I feel like I’m skiing the strongest I’ve ever skied right now,” Shiffrin told the Guardian last month.
More impressive is Shiffrin’s ability to maintain her level of performance even amid her extension into the speed events, the downhill and super-G, which have long been the domain of another US skiing superstar: Lindsey Vonn.
Back in December, Shiffrin carved out her first downhill victory ever at Lake Louise, a course that’s been dubbed ‘Lake Lindsey’ after years of Vonn’s dominance there. The 22-year-old triumphing in just her fourth downhill start was a surprise to many, including Shiffrin herself.
“I knew I could be a contender for top five, maybe a podium, but that was if I was skiing my best and didn’t make any mistakes,” she said. “All these other pieces had to fall into place. I didn’t think everything was just going to line up the way it did.”
Rarely does everything go perfectly in alpine skiing. Vonn, for all of her success, is a testament to that. The American veteran has more World Cup victories (81) than any other woman in ski racing history and is just five shy of the all-time record, held by Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark. But, at 33 years old, Vonn still has only one Olympic gold medal to her name.
Yet Shiffrin, who has won more World Cups (41) before turning 23 than anyone else, manages to come out on top even when conditions aren’t perfect. She was battling fatigue and illness during a stretch of this season but still found a way to make history, becoming the first skier to win five straight races in 20 years.
“I feel like I don’t actually have to peak in order to win a race, which is also exciting going into the Olympics because I don’t feel like I have to time it perfectly in order to perform my best,” Shiffrin said. “If I have good preparation and continue this momentum, then I’ll feel confident on race day.”
Despite her consistent success from a young age, confidence hasn’t always come easily for Shiffrin. It’s hard to believe an athlete who has been spotted taking naps on the ski hill in between race runs is anything but relaxed, but Shiffrin said the anxiety she experienced before races left her feeling physically ill.
Last season, she sought the help of Lauren Loberg, a sports psychologist who has worked with the US Ski and Snowboard Association, as well as the National Football League.
“It wasn’t the kind of sports psychologist relationship that made me feel like I was seeing a shrink or made me feel like I had a problem,” Shiffrin said. Instead, she considers Loberg, who is a former college athlete, a friend who understands what makes Shiffrin tick: “She knows my philosophy and my mentality and my skiing.”
This insight helped Loberg get to the root of Shiffrin’s performance anxiety.
“She told me that my biggest fear is that I’m going to disappoint people,” Shiffrin said. “That I’m going to disappoint the media or fans or my coaches or my family.”
Loberg helped the skier dispel her fear and anxiety by reminding her that, no matter the result, a race has no bearing on who Shiffrin is as a person.
“You’re the same person at the finish as you were at the start,” Loberg told her. “If it was a great run, that’s awesome, but that doesn’t make you a great person. All the moments in between and the moments when nobody sees you are what make you who you are.”
Photograph: Tom Pennington/Getty Images
It’s understandable that Shiffrin could lose sight of herself in her athletic pursuits, which are deeply ingrained in who she is as a person. She was born in the mountain resort town of Vail, Colorado, to parents Jeff and Eileen Shiffrin, who were both ski racers. Jeff, an anesthesiologist, had skied in college, while Eileen, a nurse, was a prominent Masters racer.
They helmed thier daughter’s ski career from the start, coaching both Mikaela and her older brother, Taylor, who went on to compete at the University of Denver, and concocting often unconventional ways to help hone their technique. They had Mikaela improve her balance and coordination by juggling while riding a unicycle, an exercise more befitting an aspiring circus clown than a future gold medalist.
Ultimately, they placed the greatest emphasis on practice. While other young skiers relished the opportunity to compete, Mikaela often forwent races in order to spend more time training. This strategy has more than paid off for the skier, who is renowned for her masterful technique.
In addition to priming Mikaela for success, Jeff and Eileen also helped their daughter develop methods for overcoming the low points, both on and off the slopes.
“My parents used to say and still do, ‘Just smile, even if you don’t feel like it,’” Shiffrin said. “Smiling releases a chemical in your brain that actually makes you feel happier. By smiling, you’re going to feel just a little bit better. You’re going to start this snowball effect that’s going to get you out of this mood.”
Shiffrin said this mentality was particularly useful when she was a teenager. She admitted: “There were plenty of days that I was probably more dramatic than I needed to be. I felt like it was the end of the world for whatever reason.”
It likely didn’t help that Shiffrin rose to prominence during her fraught teenage years, which are hard enough to navigate without having the world watching you.
Adolescent melodrama notwithstanding, the skier is refreshingly well-adjusted for someone who has been in the spotlight from a young age, with her charmingly self-deprecating sense of humor and lack of pretense only adding to her mass appeal. Shiffrin’s relatability and immense talent make her one of the most marketable athletes in the winter sports world, drawing sponsorships from top brands, including Visa.
Her star is poised to continue its rise next week in the Taebaek mountains of South Korea, where she has the potential to win multiple medals. Shiffrin is the top contender in the slalom and giant slalom, and she should also threaten in the combined event, which is made up of one downhill run and one slalom run. A fourth medal, even a fifth, in the speed events is within the realm of possibility.
Shiffrin’s chances will be bolstered by a schedule that plays to her strengths. Alpine skiing competitions typically hold the speed events before the technical ones, but in Pyeongchang, the technical races will come first. This means that Shiffrin will have the opportunity to compete in the speed events without risking injury or missing training ahead of her best events, the slalom and giant slalom.
She said she was planning to use a recent World Cup stop in Cortina, Italy, to determine whether she would add the super-G or both to her Olympic program.
Whatever she decides, Shiffrin’s prospects are astounding. She has the potential to become the first US alpine skier to win more than two Olympic gold medals, and it’s possible that she surpasses Julia Mancuso’s four medals to become the most decorated American woman in Olympic alpine skiing history.
But for Shiffrin and her team, the goal isn’t necessarily hardware or history.
“We’re just focusing on skiing and improving,” Shiffrin said. “We’re not talking about statistics or wins or even medals.”
Even if they aren’t talking about it, everyone else is. She’s been one of the hot-button topics in the ski racing universe for several years, and with everything she could achieve at these Olympics, the rest of the world will have no choice but to take notice as well.