Dominance is the end goal, and it never changes. Shiffrin has historically high race results in her main discipline, slalom competitions. She also wins combination titles and speed crowns. She will be 29 on March 13 but has already won 95 World Cup races, nine more than the legendary Ingemar Stenmark, who held the previous record and was long thought to be unachievable. She doesn’t seem to be finished or even close to retiring. Not quite yet. When healthy, Shiffrin keeps skiing farther and farther away from every rival, with the exception of Mikaela Shiffrin, who is the only one remaining.
She must now be defined in only the loftiest terms. By the best kind of brilliance (often) and spectacular failure (rarely but publicly). By World Cup wizardry and Olympic disappointment. By love, laughter and loss. By injuries and grief. And by deep, personal, public introspection that few, if any, famous athletes would ever dare present to the world.
Shiffrin is all those things. She’s also bunkered down inside a rental cabin in Norway; her room sandwiched between those occupied by her mother, Eileen, and her physical therapist. She describes the space as cozy, meaning wintry and not huge. There are bunk beds in her room and wooden planks overhead and a piano, the one she can’t stop playing. She had booked the cabin in case she could compete. She continues rehabbing her injured knee, healing, making songs.
Shiffrin cannot read sheet music. But she has played the piano since childhood, primarily through sound. Proof that Shiffrin can do pretty much anything lies there. She hears a song, places fingers on keyboards and just plays by ear—everything from Taylor Swift covers to melodies of her own creation. She obviously cannot travel with a piano, and since most hotels don’t have them, any opportunity to soothe anxiety and alleviate pressure and feel human is rare and embraced. There’s one problem in Norway—the piano’s location is in her room. Shiffrin cannot play too late or too loudly. She must play in something like a musical whisper, tapping out chill tunes meant to elicit calm, positive vibes, while not annoying her neighbors.
This is vintage Mikaela Shiffrin, funny and reflective and relatable. Injuries happen. So will more history, as long as she doesn’t focus on her job, winning, or where and how she breaks whatever record she’ll topple next.
Dropping soon: new album, Mikaela Shiffrin’s Recovery Instrumentals.
This weekend, she will also return to the competition where magic tends to happen when she skis. Shiffrin won her first World Cup race in Åre, Sweden, along with her all-time record-tying (No. 86) and breaking (87) races. It’s where she sustained her very first injury—and where she returned to competition after her father died.
Also dropping soon: Mikaela Shiffrin, rebuilt once more, steeled beyond belief and ready, above all, to produce another round of magic.
World Cup victory No. 95 unspooled in Slovakia in January. Shiffrin won that race by the slimmest of margins, 14-hundredths of a second. She climbed onto a medal podium for the 150th time. In a recap email, her reps briefly laid out her plan for the weeks ahead. Head to Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy; finish training for the upcoming speed series events; and, ideally, cement another overall season championship, good for six total, tied for the most ever.
eze solomon