After claiming an emotional Olympic gold, Mikaela Shiffrin’s thoughts turned to one man who wasn’t there — her father, Jeff.
The American crossed the line as Olympic slalom champion, as she did 12 years earlier in Sochi at the age of 18.
Only this time, as he hugged his mother and coaches, he missed his father, who had passed away six years ago.
She said, “For my father, who didn’t get a chance to see this. This was the moment I dreamed about. I’m also very scared of this moment.”
“Everything you do in life after losing a loved one is like a new experience.
“It’s like being born again and I still have moments where I resist it. I don’t want to live without my father and today was probably the first time I could really accept this reality.
“Instead of thinking that I would rather be in this moment without her, take that moment to be quiet with her.”
Shiffrin spent almost a year away from the sport following the loss.
which she called an “invisible injury”—while she has spoken openly about her mental health struggles.
His victory in Italy, winning the gold medal in emphatic fashion by an extraordinary margin of 1.50 seconds, cemented his name among the greats of alpine skiing.
Following his success in Sochi and then Pyeongchang in 2018, the 30-year-old clocked a total of 1:39:10 to become a three-time Olympic champion.
The intervening eight years without an Olympic medal have brought many challenges for Shiffrin, both inside and outside the sport.
But she said the most important thing Wednesday was to “show up” to the race.
“Just to be there for two runs and do something that’s within me and I know how to do, that’s a huge task,” she said.
“It’s not always easy. Sometimes it feels impossible. In the end, today, it was about cutting out the noise and being simple with it.”
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