‘You can’t get in fight with a mounta

that I don’t have to do that race. Or if there are races where I feel like the conditions are questionable, or the visibility is more questionable than I’m willing to handle.

“I try to be honest about that. And my coaches, my team around me, my mom as well – she’s somebody I lean on to help guide me in these decisions. And she did ask me the same question. You know, ‘How do you feel about going into these races and doing downhill after seeing Aleks’s crash?’ I feel OK.”

Shiffrin sits back in her chair in her chalet in Cortina d’ampezzo – we are speaking by Zoom – and continues. She does not deny that Kilde’s crash was horrific. In fact, she says, she wishes he had been even more open about the extent of his injuries – the Norwegian suffered a nasty laceration to his calf as well as a dislocated shoulder – because then there would be more appreciation for the risks elite skiers take.

“Honestly, his leg was like a war image,” she says. “Laceration doesn’t do it justice. TV wouldn’t share it because it was too graphic. But I think maybe there’s a way to share it that people can choose whether they want to see it or not. Because then people would see just how strong he actually is, if they knew a little bit more of the severity of the accident and the procedures that he’s gone through and sort of the recovery time involved… It was bad. It is bad. But he’s very positive. He’s got that Viking spirit.”

Shiffrin says her acceptance of the risks should not be read as a free pass for the FIS [the International Ski and Snowboard Federation]. Last week, after her accident, she published an update on her socials regarding her as the most successful. Despite her accident, she still sits second in the overall women’s World Cup standings this season. And she could still hit the magical 100-win mark in the coming weeks if she can get back on her skis quickly. Already this season she has racked up seven wins (five in slalom, one in giant slalom and one in downhill) with five events left.

She insists she is in no rush. “Of course, there’s a lot at stake this season,” she wrote in her recent update. “But I also feel like the next few seasons there is just a lot of opportunity.”

It is good to hear that because there was a time, not so long ago, when she was very close to giving up the sport altogether. Not because of the risks involved, but down to a lack of motivation. The death of her father Jeff, from a head injury suffered in an accident in the family home in Colorado in February 2020, hit her extremely hard. Shiffrin drifted for a season or two. And after what was, by her