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Mikaela Shiffrin is using her records pursuit for good
Mikaela Shiffrin has decided to lean into the hype.
Talking about records and victories has always made the two-time Olympic champion uncomfortable. Which is somewhat problematic, given she has a lot of both. As she closes in on her 100th World Cup victory, though, Shiffrin is taking a different view of it.
She loves her sport, and she wants others to love it, too. If she, and her records specifically, are the gateway for that, bring it on.
“Bringing energy to the sport is never a bad thing,” Shiffrin said Wednesday, three days before she begins the season with a pair of giant slalom races in Soelden, Austria.
“I’m energized right now by people bringing up 100,” she added. “I think it’s incredible that people are still following along on this journey and are excited about it. I would say that’s an incredible positive.”
There aren’t enough superlatives to describe what Shiffrin has done in Alpine skiing. Ingemar Stenmark’s 86 World Cup victories was a mark once considered untouchable and she’s shattered it, beginning this season with 97. Her five overall titles trail only Marcel Hirscher (eight) and Annemarie Moser-Proell (six).
Shiffrin is tied with Stenmark and Lindsey Vonn for most season titles in a single discipline, with eight, and her 60 World Cup slalom wins are the most by any skier in a single discipline. Her 17 wins in the 2018-19 season are the most by any skier, male or female, and she’s also the first to win a race in six different disciplines.
Shall I keep going?
But the records are not what drive Shiffrin. Never have. Neither do the wins, exactly. She is humble by nature, incapable of seeing herself in the same way as other elite athletes. Mostly, though, she’s a nerd about the process, taking joy in finding some way to get a little better, a little bit faster every time she puts on a pair of skis. The wins are simply a byproduct of that.
And those wins, they’re more about their context than a place on a podium or another piece of hardware.
Take Shiffrin’s 87th win, the one in March 2023 that broke Stenmark’s record. Yes, she’s well aware of its historic significance. But its personal significance was because her brother and sister-in-law, who she rarely gets to see during the ski season, flew in to surprise her. They joined Shiffrin’s mother Eileen, who is also one of her coaches, in the finish area.
“My family was there,” Shiffrin said. “Those kind of key things, they become core memories because of what surrounds it, not because of the record itself.”
Shiffrin has tried to explain all this a million times, in a million different ways. But we’re a results-driven society, and the numbers she’s put up are impossible to ignore or downplay.
If she’s going to get asked about another record or a win, Shiffrin’s decided she can at least put that spotlight to good use. Earlier this week she announced a partnership with Share Winter, a foundation that brings winter sports to kids and communities that historically have not had access to them.
In addition to talking about Share Winter, Shiffrin is planning to do tie-ins with the foundation around her 100th World Cup win and other milestones.
“One of the main goals of my career is not just to inspire people who are already accessing winter sports and already doing them, but to help share that passion and access to people beyond. Especially youth and kids out there that otherwise wouldn’t be able to do it,” she said.
“I think it’s just such a beautiful goal and … in this stage of my career, it places a different kind of meaning on it,” Shiffrin added. “It changes my perspective on the whole record conversation. I’m seeing it as an opportunity more than, 'Oh (shoot), everyone’s going to be asking me about the record and this and that.’
“That’s been my mentality for so long, trying to avoid those questions. I’m actually excited now because it’s just such an incredible opportunity to bring more eyes, and ideally more passion, to the sport.”
Shiffrin was 17 when she got her first World Cup victory, 18 when she won her first Olympic gold medal. Now 29, she knows she’s closer to the end of her career than the beginning. But that finish line remains a ways away, and there’s a lot more to be accomplished before she crosses it.
Starting with that 100th World Cup win, which could come as early as next month. Maybe even at the World Cup stop at Shiffrin’s beloved Killington.
“I feel almost less pressure about it because I just think it’s exciting people want to be excited for it. So let’s go for it,” she said. “Try to have fun with it, I guess.”
And do some good while she’s at it.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mikaela Shiffrin wants to make her milestones mean something
