Vonn, Shiffrin Alpine’s best past, present, future
By Howard Fendrich and Pat Graham
Separated in age by about a decade, Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin head to the Pyeongchang Olympics as the past, present and future of ski racing in the United States and around the world.
In the World Cup, their sport’s annual measuring stick, Vonn, 33, owns four overall titles; Shiffrin, who turns 23 in March, is on pace for her second. Vonn has won 81 World Cup races, a record for a woman and second most for anyone in history; Shiffrin is halfway there.
Each claimed an Olympic gold medal in her specialty: Vonn in the downhill in 2010; Shiffrin in the slalom in 2014, when Vonn was out after right knee surgery. Now, with the opening ceremony in South Korea on Friday, arrives the first — and, presumably, last — chance for them to share the spotlight at a Winter Games.
“The regard they have for each other is extraordinary. Lindsey is such an incredible, achieved athlete, and Mikaela looks at her that way, in awe of her. And at the same time, Lindsey is clearly in awe of Mikaela’s accomplishments, as is the entire world, of course,” U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association CEO Tiger Shaw said. “You have two of the most powerful women in the athletic world, and they’re both battling for their own goals, and they both want to achieve as many medals as possible in these Olympics.”
Vonn will be an overwhelming favorite in the downhill in South Korea, having won the last three World Cup races in that event. She also could contend in the other speed event, the super-G, and the combined, which adds the time from one downhill run and one slalom.
Shiffrin, meanwhile, can — indeed, will be expected to — become the first with consecutive slalom golds; she won five of the past six World Cup slaloms she entered. She also could win a medal in the other technical event, the giant slalom, along with the combined, and is likely to be in the starting hut for speed events, too.
“I like to try to understand what makes them tick and makes them so great,” Shaw said of the American team’s two best racers, “and then we try to bottle that up and make the other athletes understand what that is, so they can use it, too.”