Over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed quite a bit of concern expressed in the ski racing community about whether Mikaela Shiffrin, the G.O.A.T. of alpine ski racing, still “has it.” She was beaten in two of the first four World Cup events this year (including an uncharacteristic 6th in the opening GS in Soelden and then a 3rd in the GS at Killington). Of course, no one seems to fully acknowledge that she also won the SLs at Levi and Killington.
These “disappointing” results are a testament to the sky-high expectations that our ski-racing community has placed on Mikaela. It’s also a testament to Mikaela’s mental strength that she is able to remove that metaphorical weight vest of collective pressure and still be able to leave it all out on the course and rip run after run after run.
Before Mikaela arrived at the White Circus, women’s skiing had already given us quite a show over the previous two decades, with amazing feats of physical strength, technical prowess, and just plain speed, whether from the likes Anja Parson, Janica Kostelic, Tina Maze, Lindsay Vonn, and Anna Fenninger, among many others.
Yet, Mikaela has taken the level of skiing among the best women in the world and raised the bar considerably. Her work ethic, willingness to experiment, commitment to be the best, and determination to go faster every run has resulted in her dominating our sport (in all five events no less) like none of her predecessors ever did.
This new level has had two effects on women’s ski racing that, paradoxically, haven’t been in Mikaela’s best interests when it comes to winning.
First, Mikaela has, inadvertently, raised the bar for all of her competitors. There is no doubt that the likes of Vlhova, Gut-Behrami, Brignone, Duerr, Holdener, and Goggia, to name a few, needed to raise their games if they wanted to have a chance at competing against Mikaela. And they have certainly responded en masse, having closed the gap the last few years and, in the case of Gut-Behrami, even surpassed Mikaela, at least in GS at this early stage of the 2023-24 World Cup campaign. While Mikaela’s victories seemed almost easy and foregone conclusions in the past, she has definitely had to work hard for her wins in recent years and frequently has had to come from behind on her second runs.
Having followed Mikeala’s evolution since her days at Burke Mountain Academy, I don’t think that she sees her raising the bar for everyone as a threat to her dominance, but rather a challenge to continue to grow as an athlete to maintain and even reassert her dominance. Mikaela continues to push the envelope, both on- and off-snow, searching for ways to go faster physically, technically, tactically, with equipment, and, of course, mentally.
The second effect of raising the bar for everyone is that Mikaela is, unwittingly, sewing the seeds of her own demise in our sport (though that will likely not happen for a number of years). Instead of learning the essential lessons necessary to beat the G.O.A.T. well into their careers like the current crop of alpine superstars, Mikaela is showing the next generations of young women ski racers what it takes to be the very best.
And somewhere out there, whether on a small bump of a hill in the Midwest, the rugged mountains of bullet-proof ice in New England, the high peaks of the Western U.S., in a small ski town in the Alps of Europe, or some other future hotbed of alpine ski racing, there’s a little girl watching Mikaela’s greatness and absorbing those lessons, with the talent, opportunity, support, passion, and determination to dream of becoming the next Mikaela Shiffrin. And perhaps even challenging her for the title of G.O.A.T.
I also don’t think Mikaela is too concerned about this second “problem” either. To the contrary, I have always sensed that, though winning World Cup, Olympic, and World Championship races was part of what fueled her, changing our sport forever and inspiring future generations of ski racers would be her greatest legacies.
