Vonn, Shiffrin represent Alpine’s past, present, future

“It’s so ingrained. They always compare Mikaela to Lindsey Vonn . ... It’s a normal thing for people to do,” said Shiffrin’s mother, Eileen, who is one of her coaches. “But Mikaela, right from the get-go, always said: ‘I’m not Lindsey. I’m not The Next Lindsey Vonn; I’m Mikaela Shiffrin. That’s who I am. That’s who I want to be. I don’t want to be Lindsey Vonn. And I don’t want to ... follow in her footsteps. Or any of those things. We’re not even doing the same events, for Pete’s sake. So I’m not The Next Lindsey Vonn.’”

There is, though, a mutual admiration.

“Lindsey was one of my really biggest idols growing up. And I still have an enormous respect for her. The career she’s had, the focus and energy that she puts into this sport,” said the younger Shiffrin, who studies video of Vonn’s downhill runs. “So to hear anybody with the kind of success that she’s had say anything remotely positive about me is very flattering.”

Vonn does have plenty of nice things to say about Shiffrin.

During one recent interview, for example, she called Shiffrin an “amazingly talented skier” and praised her as someone who “works incredibly hard” and who “definitely has a lot of possibilities in front of her.”

While their careers have overlapped, they have not faced off much for a variety of factors.

“It’s weird that we haven’t been on the podium together before. Because we’ve both been successful, just not at the same time,” Vonn said. “It was really fun. We’re going to be on the podium a lot more together in the future, which is great.”

Perhaps as soon as this month in South Korea.