MIKAELA’S MOMENT
Mikaela Shiffrin takes gold in the giant slalom, and she just might be getting started. She’s a threat to break the U.S. record for ski medals in one Olympics. Armour column,
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea – The Pyeongchang Olympics are about to get Shiffrolled.
The first gold medal of these Games was always going to be the hardest for Mikaela Shiffrin, and the blustery winds that wreaked havoc with the schedule did nothing to help. Now that she has one gold, however, expect more to follow.
“It’s been a mental strain the last couple of days, thinking we were going to race and then not racing,” she said Thursday after winning gold in the giant slalom. “Now we got the ball rolling.”
When Shiffrin said four years ago that she wanted to win five golds here, it was written off as a joke or the exuberance of an 18-year-old who had just won her first Olympic title. But the American has become the best all-around skier in the world since then, and her quick progress in downhill this season made it a very real prospect.
She won’t get five, for the simple fact that the compressed schedule will force her to skip the super-G on Saturday. But she’ll still make history. Bode Miller is the only American skier to win three medals at one Olympics, claiming the gold in combined, a silver in super-G and a bronze in downhill in Vancouver. He also holds the U.S. ski record for overall Olympic medals with five, having won silvers in combined and GS in Salt Lake City.
Both of those marks are in jeopardy. Momentum is a powerful thing for athletes, and that goes double at the Olympics. With anxiety ratcheted up a notch, the first appearance often sets the tone for everything that comes after. Do well, and it carries through the Games. Struggle, and it can’t help but be in the back of your mind.
While Shiffrin says no one’s expectations exceed her own, she’s not immune to pressure or ignorant of it. She went to the starting gate Thursday knowing the eyes of the world were on her and, for many, anything less than a gold medal would be seen as a disappointment.
By delivering, Shiffrin just erased all that pressure. For the rest of the Games, she’s racing with house money.
“Every single day is a new day and my only job here is to put out my best effort,” she said. “But going into this Olympics, I thought, yeah, I could come away with multiple medals. I could also walk away with nothing.
“Now I know that I have something, so that’s a really nice feeling.”
That she’s skiing so well will only add to that.
The tech events are Shiffrin’s specialty, but she has a “love-hate relationship” with GS. While she can be dazzling in the event — she has six World Cup wins in GS, including two this season — she also has a tendency to tighten up in races, to be more tentative.
But whatever Shiffrin has done in training here, it has taken her to another level.
In second place after the first run, Shiffrin smashed her second. She skied with ferocity, putting everything on the line with every turn.
By the last five gates, it wasn’t a question of whether she would win but by how much. Her combined time of 2:20.02 was 0.39 seconds ahead of silver medalist Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway.
The gap was bigger than the one between Mowinckel and fifth place.
“I’m still blown away by this win today,” said Shiffrin’s mother and coach, Eileen. “I’m so proud of her, and I was incredibly impressed with her skiing today.”
If Shiffrin can do that in a race that’s been a work in progress, just imagine what she’ll do in other events, including Saturday’s downhill, where she has made the podium in three of the four races she’s done this season. (She was to race the slalom, her specialty, early Friday morning).
“It really sets a great tone for us for the next 10 days,” said Mike Day, Shiffrin’s coach.
Imagine a snowball picking up speed as it rolls, getting bigger and bigger and crushing everything in front of it. That’s what Mikaela Shiffrin is about to do.