FLACHAU – As Mikaela Shiffrin continues her quest for a record-breaking 83rd World Cup win in alpine skiing next week, her greatest idol sees even greater milestones ahead for the American.
Marlies Raich, the Austrian exceptional who dominated women’s slalom under her maiden name Schild before retiring in 2014, believes that 27-year-old Shiffrin’s winning tally will likely have reached three digits by the time she retires.
“If she stays healthy, if she stays hungry, she can…I don’t know, get to 100 or more,” Raich told The Associated Press after Tuesday’s night race.
At the floodlit event, Shiffrin missed a first opportunity to surpass the 82-win mark she shares with fellow American Lindsey Vonn, whose career ended with injury four years ago.
Once Shiffrin has overtaken Vonn, attention will turn to the overall record of 86 wins held by Swedish grandmaster Ingemar Stenmark since the 1980s.
Shiffrin matched Vonn’s performance last Sunday with a giant slalom triumph in Slovenia. Many expected her to add victory No. 83 two days later in Austria, but Shiffrin suffered from illness and finished second behind the resurrected Petra Vlhová, the Olympic slalom champion from Slovakia, who claimed her first win of the season.
“But you can see today that winning every race cannot be taken for granted. It’s always hard work,” said Raich. “Mikaela doesn’t think about records and stuff because it wouldn’t make you that strong with those things in your head. She is focused: she just wants to take good corners, those corners that feel good.”
Shiffrin certainly wasn’t feeling well under the lights on Tuesday night.
While her skiing didn’t reveal her discomfort, she battled with a stomach problem and vomited shortly after television interviews. Against a backdrop of Slovakian fans cheering and flag-waving in the stands, Shiffrin was then escorted out of the finish area by her team and did not speak to reporters.
After competing in seven events over the past 15 days and winning five of them, Shiffrin decided to sit out speed racing next weekend in St Anton, a place in Austria where she has never raced. She was expected to be back in action at a Super-G in Cortina d’Ampezzo on January 20th.
Shiffrin usually does well at the resort in the Italian Dolomites, where she won a World Cup Super-G four years ago and collected four medals at the 2021 World Championships.
“But,” her head coach Mike Day said, “we’ll see how this week goes and how she feels and how she recovers from a little bit of illness and a lot of fatigue.”
Shiffrin and Raich have had a special friendship since the American made her breakthrough in top-class sport in 2011.
Shiffrin has never hidden her admiration for the Austrian’s slalom style and has studied video recordings of her runs extensively.
Raich, on the other hand, has been impressed with Shiffrin’s skiing since she first saw her compete as a 16-year-old prodigy.
“From the first time I saw her, she had great technique,” Raich said. “She is so balanced, she is very athletic, she feels the skis. Most of the time she knows what to do in good time.”
In 2013, Raich set the women’s standard in slalom with 35 victories. Shiffrin overtook her five years later and now has 51 wins in the discipline.
According to Raich, it’s hard work that pays off for Shiffrin.
“She has 82 World Cup wins at the moment and she never stops working and never stopping getting better,” said Raich. “I know how hard it is, how much energy it takes to be so good for so long.”
From the seasons they competed, Raich recalled how Shiffrin and her mother and coach Eileen would come up to her after races to compliment her on her skiing.
“They said they would like to watch me,” Raich said. “Later in an interview, Mikaela said she looked up to me. Now I look up to her and admire what she is doing. I’m proud that the best of all time might have gotten something from me.”
___
Eric Willemsen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/eWilmedia
___
More AP Skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/skiing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, transcribed or redistributed without permission.
