Mikaela Shiffrin Talks About Her Olympic Triumphs And Trying Times

Like much of Team USA’s great athletes, Mikaela Shiffrin isn’t done competing, or improving and—like the rest of us–managing life, just a little.

Shiffrin mentions that the unexpected passing of her father still weighs on her mind every day.

“I’ll be at practice and races where I have skied really well, and still struggle. I see images of my dad and our family all together, and feeling sad, and I haven’t figured out how to stop that yet.” Shiffrin’s father, Jeff Shiffrin, died in February 2020, after an accident at the family home in Colorado. “There are times in which it changes my perspective and mindset for the whole day.”

But after a difficult 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, and one in which Shiffrin did not medal, the two-time gold medalist and perennial World Cup powerhouse says now that her goals as a competitor are much the same.

“On the hill, my goals have not changed much,” Shiffrin said in an interview in June. “You always want to execute, especially on race day. Performance goals don’t change, but as you grow sometimes you add value-based goals that are personal ones.”

Shiffrin is also the subject of Outside’s latest sports television programming, in a short documentary called Passion & Purpose, available for viewing on Outside+.

The episode features never before seen footage of Shiffrin’s humbling experience in Beijing, and captures the pressure that the world’s greatest athletes experience mentally and physically, both while competing and in everyday life.

Last week I got to connect with Mikaela Shiffrin, to ask her about success and difficulties as a skier, what is next for the downhill legend.

Andy Frye: The last round of the Olympics was more difficult for the USA. Is it tougher than it used to be to snag gold?

Mikaela Shiffrin: I think there are a couple factors to our success at the (last) Olympics. If you base it off medal count, it was not as successful. Obviously the Olympics is judged off of medal count, but there were great performances under the surface of all that.

Such as the one by Nina (O’Brien), who was crushing it in the GS (giant slalom competition) and then she crashed and got severely injured. And Paula (Moltzan) in the slalom. And then Ryan (Cochran-Siegle) got a silver medal, and we were all thankful for that, because it showed the potential and the depth that we actually do have on our team right now.

Unfortunately, people didn’t necessarily get a good gauge of that depth from this last Olympics. I don’t know if the overall competition is stronger than before but it is more diverse.

AF:You and Simone Biles didn’t win gold medals in your competitions, but neither did Shaun White. US Men’s soccer didn’t compete.

Do you ever think media criticism upon Olympic women is unbalanced?

Shiffrin: I think the balance is where the expectation comes from. Someone like Shaun White is always expected to win, but he had gone into that Olympics announcing his retirement and that he was going to enjoy the moment—really shifting the focus away from winning a medal. I’m sure that in the moment he still felt some pressure.

There is a bit of control when you tell your story or set expectations with the media about your own performance. If you set the expectation that you have potential to win a medal, it’s clearly going to be one of the expectations.

Related story: Lindsey Vonn talks “Greatness Code” docuseries

And that expectation is always going to be there with Simone, as long as she’s competing. Even after the (last) Olympics there is still going to be that expectation, because she’s proven time and time again how insanely talented an athlete and a gymnast she is.

I don’t have a well-tuned eye for gymnastics, but (I) can see that—medal or not—she is still levels beyond what anyone else can do. At her level, she can’t even get a silver or a bronze and have that be good enough.

VIDEO: Mikaela Shiffrin showcases her drive in “Passion & Purpose”

AF: In addition to your two Olympic golds, you have over 70 victories across six ski disciplines. Does any one win stand out?

Shiffrin: It’s funny, because the victories I remember the most are usually the ones that have been the best-documented.

Killington (in 2021) feels like a hometown race for me and there was a lot of buzz around it. I just really remember that race as this blurred-together, crazy experience. And there are a lot of races (at that venue) I remember because my entire family was there. But I got a lot of perspective from (Killington) and it was one of my best memories racing.

AF: What’s your next move as a competitive skier—and in general?

Shiffrin: My next move as a competitive skier is not really different from anything in the past. You set new goals every year. There are performance-based goals, and also personal, value-based goals like how I want to ski, how I want to metal approach the season and build myself up to execute that.

And a lot of it for me right now, to be honest, is still a struggle after my dad’s passing. Some days are just awful and that doesn’t line up with anything performance-wise. I might be on the hill one day, skiing out of my mind—better than I’ve ever skied—and still feel sad and angry and all of it.

And sometimes I may be skiing mediocre but appreciating the day more. Emotions don’t always line up with performance, and that sometimes makes goals harder to address. Working through it better is one of my ongoing goals. But the performance side of my goals are the same, and it’s about showing up on race day and executing as best as I can.

Read Frye’s June interview story with Lindsey Vonn.

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