Photo: GEPA pictures

At the beginning of the season, I noticed quite a bit of concern about whether Mikaela Shiffrin, the G.O.A.T. of alpine ski racing, still “had it.” She had struggled in two World Cup events, securing 6th place in Soelden and 3rd in Killington. However, many overlook that she triumphed in the slalom races at Levi and Killington. These “disappointing” results are a testament to the sky-high expectations that our ski-racing community has placed on Shiffrin. It’s also a testament to Shiffrin’s mental strength that she can remove that pressure off her shoulders when she’s out on the course and ripping run after run.

Before Shiffrin arrived at the White Circus, over two previous decades ago, women’s skiing had already given us quite a show, with remarkable feats of physical strength, technical prowess, and just plain speed, whether from the likes of Anja Parson, Janica Kostelic, Tina Maze, Lindsay Vonn, and Anna Fenninger, among many others.

Yet, Shiffrin has taken the level of skiing among the best women in the world and raised the bar considerably. Her work ethic, willingness to experiment, commitment to being the best, and determination to go faster every run have resulted in her dominating our sport (winning in all five events, no less) like none of her predecessors ever did.

This new level has had two effects on women’s ski racing that, paradoxically, haven’t been in Shiffrin’s best interests regarding winning.

First consequence of raising the bar

First, Shiffrin has inadvertently raised the bar for all of her competitors. There is no doubt that the likes of Vlhova, Gut-Behrami, Brignone, Duerr, Holdener, Hector and Goggia, to name a few, needed to raise their games to compete against Shiffrin. And they have certainly responded en masse, having closed the gap the last few years and, in the case of Gut-Behrami and Brignone, even surpassed Shiffrin, at least in GS at this stage of the 2023-24 World Cup campaign. While Shiffrin’s victories seemed almost easy and foregone conclusions in the past, she has had to improve to earn her wins in recent years and frequently has had to come from behind on her second runs.

Having followed Shiffrin’s evolution since her days at Burke Mountain Academy, I don’t think she sees her raising the bar for everyone as a threat to her dominance but rather a challenge to continue growing as an athlete to maintain and even reassert her dominance. Shiffrin continues to push the envelope, both on- and off-snow, searching for ways to go faster physically, technically, tactically, with equipment, and, of course, mentally.

Second consequence of raising the bar

The second effect of raising the bar for everyone is that Shiffrin is unwittingly sowing the seeds of her demise in our sport (though that will likely not happen for several years). Instead of learning the essential lessons necessary to beat the G.O.A.T. well into their careers, like the current alpine superstars, Shiffrin is showing the next generations of young women ski racers what it takes to be the best.

And somewhere out there, whether on a small bump of a hill in the Midwest, the rugged mountains of bullet-proof ice in New England, the high peaks of the Western U.S., in a small ski town in the European Alps, or some other future hotbed of alpine ski racing, a little girl is watching Shiffrin’s greatness and absorbing those lessons, with the talent, opportunity, support, passion, and determination to dream of becoming the next Mikaela Shiffrin and perhaps even challenge her for the title of G.O.A.T. I also don’t think Shiffrin is too concerned about this second “problem,” either. On the contrary, I have always sensed that, though winning World Cup, Olympic, and World Championship races was part of what fueled her, changing our sport forever and inspiring future generations of ski racers will be her most significant legacy.