MERIBEL – In the midst of a hurricane 48 hours high in the French Alps, Mikaela Shiffrin woke up to the news that Lebron James had broken the NBA scoring record and the American skier immediately drew comparisons to her own record season.
Inspired by James’ performance, Shiffrin walked out a few hours later and put an unusual end to her miserable run in big races most recently by winning a long-awaited medal, silver, in Super-G at the World Championships on Wednesday.
“My news alert was (about James),” Shiffrin said. “I was like, ‘Wow, that’s cool for him.’ I wasn’t sure if it was a dream though, so it’s good to know it’s true.
“It’s another example of incredible achievements in sport that will continue to drive future generations to try to push the boundaries, reset the records and keep raising the level of the sport, be it skiing, basketball or anything else.” It symbolizes this concept that we keep working harder and trying to do better.”
Shiffrin sure worked hard and pushed the boundaries in her sport.
Just like every point James has scored on the basketball court over the past month, Shiffrin’s every turn and result on the ski slope has been dissected in great detail on her first break Lindsey Vonn’s women’s record of 82 World Cup wins. Since then, she has moved within a victory Ingemar Stenmark’s total mark of 86 wins.
While races at World Cups don’t count toward World Cup totals, Shiffrin’s nightmarish performance over the past year is Olympic Games in Beijing was constantly harassing her as soon as she arrived at the posh resort of Meribel – or rather, everyone else was constantly harassing her about it. She then threw away what was destined to be a gold medal run in the combined event that opened the championships on Monday when she rode over a gate three turns from the finish of her slalom run.
Her experience in Beijing, when she failed to finish three of her five individual competitions and win a medal despite competing as one of the expected stars of the Olympics, came back to haunt her.
“After the combination, I was like, ‘You’re kidding. My DNF (Did Not Finish) rate is now over 50% in my entire career at the Olympics or World Championships. So come on,” Shiffrin said. “It’s almost funny. And it’s only funny because I was able to win a medal today.
“So now there’s a feeling of pressure – the pressure isn’t gone – but there’s a bit of relief for sure.”
The relief didn’t come immediately after her run, however.
On a technical course complicated by a shady section midway between super sunny conditions on the rest of the hill, Shiffrin looked disappointed as she crossed the finish line in second, just 0.11s behind Italian gold medalist Marta Bassinowho had come down right in front of her.
While almost all later skiers were faster than Bassino and Shiffrin at the top of the course, none could match the pair in the twisty sections in the shade or in the giant slalom-like zig-zag turns on the bottom as the sun seemed to melt the surface and to slow others down.
Cornelia Huetter of Austria and Kajsa Vickhoff Lie of Norway – early starters like Bassino and Shiffrin – shared bronze, both 0.33 behind Bassino.
“It was just a long wait to see if it stays that way until the end of the race. So there are a lot of emotions, ”said Shiffrin, who was moved to tears in an interview with the Austrian broadcaster ORF after the race.
Shiffrin’s 12th medal in 15 career races at World Championships put her lone second on the all-time list for most medals won by a woman at the sport’s next biggest event after the Olympics, behind German skier Christl Cranz, who won 15 in the 1930s. She also now has a medal of every color in the Super-G at Welten – not bad for a skier who started out as a technical specialist and only focused on slalom and giant slalom.
Before their debacle in Beijing Shiffrin won medals in all four races at the last World Championships in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, a year earlier. Her performance at the Olympic Games was all the more surprising.
“For a lot of people, that was the main focus,” said US Ski Team Alpine director Patrick Riml. “I’m glad Mikaela and her staff really focused on their skiing. She proved today that she is in a good position. She’s a champ. Despite all the talk about (Beijing) and all the questions she got about it, she put that aside and did a good job today.”
Shiffrin now has more than a week off before her last competitions in giant slalom and slalom. She will likely head to nearby Italy for two or three days of training, while also keeping an eye on how her boyfriend, Norwegian skier Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, does in Thursday’s Super-G and Sunday’s men’s downhill . He is favored to win both after leading Wednesday’s first downhill practice session.
“It’s very busy here,” said Riml. “We want to make sure we have a good, calm setup where she can focus on training and then should come back good for slalom and GS.”
After worlds, it’s that time again to chase Stenmark’s record on the World Cup course. LeBron has his record and Shiffrin will likely get hers soon.
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Andrew Dampf can be reached at https://twitter.com/AndrewDampf
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