Mikaela Shiffrin Has Moved On From Beijing and Moved Closer to History

In the 10 months since she fell in three races at the Beijing Olympics and shockingly did not add to her total of three Olympic medals, Shiffrin rebounded by winning her fourth overall World Cup title. Only three ski racers have won more. As she concluded that season, and for months afterward, Shiffrin gave countless interviews trying to explain what went wrong in Beijing. She never truly found a complete answer, but some time this summer while training in the winter conditions of Chile she concluded this much: “I’ve dissected Beijing and said just about everything I can say about those Olympics.”

This fall, Shiffrin launched a YouTube series called “Moving Right Along.”

The title summarizes her post-Olympics perspective and may signal how Shiffrin has overpowered a new ski-racing season with six victories in 12 races, including four wins since Dec. 18.

“The Olympics feel so long ago now,” Shiffrin said Friday. “I’m not forgetting them, I acknowledge it, but then you move forward. It is the same with my victories or my records; I don’t think that dwelling on things is good, healthy or productive.

“So, yeah, moving right along. And I had a lot of great off-season training thinking about that motto for life.”

Shiffrin concedes that the approach may have contributed to her blazing start on the World Cup.

“Your mind is kind of clear, and at the same time it feels like the fans have been so significantly supportive this year,” she said. “I walked through a crowd to get to the gondola on Thursday, and every single person said something encouraging about how I was going to win three in a row and get closer to the record.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/31/sports/skiing/shiffrin-vonn-world-cup.html