Snow queen in all-time great chase
LOS ANGELES: American Mikaela Shiffrin relishes the opportunity to be a multiple-medal threat at the Olympics in Pyeongchang next month and is brimming with confidence after a dominant run through World Cup events in the lead up to the Games.
The 22-year-old Alpine ski racer heads to her second Olympic Games oozing with confidence after notching 37 World Cup wins, including the first ever in downhill late last year which stunned the skiing world.
Her torrid pace at World Cup events puts her on track to top Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark’s all-time record of 86 wins.
But the slalom specialist will soon be ready to shift her focus from racking up World Cup wins to claiming medals on the sport’s biggest stage.
In a statement that should strike fear into the hearts of her competitors, she told Reuters that she was a better skiier now than she was when the then 18year-old from Colorado won gold in slalom in Sochi, becoming the youngest women’s slalom champion in Olympic history.
“Being four years older I feel like I have more experience and knowledge under my belt,” she said.
“But especially since I have improved my skiing a lot since Sochi and I have had more success in events other than slalom, I feel like I’m going into Pyeongchang with the unique opportunity to be a multiple event medal threat, which is super cool.”
Despite her success in downhill, where she earned her maiden World Cup victory in the discipline at Canada’s Lake Louise in early December, she is resisting the urge to stretch herself too thin in South Korea.
“Right now I am planning slalom, giant slalom, Alpine combined, and Super-G,” she said.
“But that is tentative and always subject to change,” she said, adding that she will finalise her programme closer to the Games.
The Olympics will run from Feb 9 to 25. Reuters