Olympic skier Mikaela Shiffrin has identified grief, PTSD, freak damage : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3721x2481+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1c%2F47%2F323d4f364ea99e2c90d886d76619%2Fap26024480098255.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3721x2481+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1c%2F47%2F323d4f364ea99e2c90d886d76619%2Fap26024480098255.jpg" class="img" alt="United States' Mikaela Shiffrin at finish line during a women's alpine ski, World Cup giant slalom, in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026." fetchpriority="high"/> Mikaela Shiffrin on the end line throughout a girls's Alpine ski, World Cup large slalom, in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic, on Jan. 24. Giovanni Auletta/AP disguise caption

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Giovanni Auletta/AP CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — Mikaela Shiffrin has lots to be pleased with already.

She is the winningest Alpine skier of all time with 108 World Cup victories to her identify, practically two dozen greater than another skier in historical past.

These achievements are astounding on their very own — particularly contemplating that she has sustained that degree of success even whereas dealing with the challenges of great damage, PTSD and an all-consuming grief that adopted the sudden dying of her father in 2020.

But the Olympics stay the final stage on which Shiffrin has not dominated to the extent that many consider she is succesful. After successful a gold medal apiece in 2014 and 2018, Shiffrin was shut out from the rostrum in 2022 in one of many greatest surprises of the Beijing Video games — a disappointment she stated just lately that she is "to today nonetheless making an attempt to grasp."

Now, in Cortina, Shiffrin returns to the Olympic stage for the fourth time in her profession with a renewed, slender focus. The 30-year-old stated Saturday she's going to compete in solely three occasions this yr: slalom, large slalom and the workforce mixed occasion. She is a contender to medal in all of them, particularly the person slalom.

"I have been to 4 completely different Video games and so they've been 4 wildly completely different experiences," she advised reporters. "Having the ability to present as much as Cortina wide-eyed and nonetheless simply as excited and motivated as the primary is actually nice."

Shiffrin's Olympic journey started at 18 years outdated At her first Olympic Video games in 2014, when she was solely 18 years outdated, she grew to become an on the spot celeb when she grew to become the youngest skier ever to win the Olympic gold medal in slalom. By 2018, she had turn out to be the world's top-ranked feminine skier and claimed one other Olympic gold, this time within the large slalom.

It was clear by then that Shiffrin might have a shot at breaking snowboarding's most untouchable document — essentially the most Alpine ski World Cup wins over the course of a person profession, a mark of 86 set again in 1989 by Swedish skier Ingemar Stenmark. She was solely 22 years outdated, but already midway there.

Quickly. Shiffrin was critically contending in all 4 particular person Alpine occasions, a rarity in snowboarding, the place most skiers favor both the shorter, extra technical slalom occasions or the longer, sooner downhill and super-G. In 2019, she had one of many best ski seasons of all time.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6000x4000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F17%2F3b%2F021286a443d7a1b235a59c853b45%2Fap26020346471986.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6000x4000+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F17%2F3b%2F021286a443d7a1b235a59c853b45%2Fap26020346471986.jpg" class="img" alt="United States' Mikaela Shiffrin prepares to start a women's World Cup giant slalom, in Kronplatz, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026." loading="lazy"/> Mikaela Shiffrin prepares to begin a girls's World Cup large slalom in Kronplatz, Italy, on Jan. 20. Gabriele Facciotti/AP disguise caption

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Gabriele Facciotti/AP Working by grief Within the 2020 season, which was minimize quick by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Shiffrin received a World Cup race in every particular person self-discipline.

Then, in early February of that yr, Shiffrin's father, Jeff, died unexpectedly after falling off the roof of their household dwelling. It devastated Shiffrin, who flew dwelling from the World Cup circuit and did not race once more for 10 months.

"It was per week she could not even get away from bed. She could not eat. She could not drink something and misplaced a number of weight," stated Shiffrin's mom, Eileen, in a brand new quick documentary launched this month. "I did not assume Mikaela would ever ski once more. I do not assume she thought she would both."

Her grief manifested in sudden methods. She would deal with the anniversary of his dying, for example, then break down after an incredible day of coaching, puzzling the folks round her, she has stated.

Shiffrin returned to racing within the 2021 season, and by the next yr, she had reclaimed her spot atop the World Cup standings. On the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022, she ambitiously entered all six Alpine occasions — 4 particular person races and two workforce occasions.

But she got here away empty-handed, a shocking outcome she later stated she was "embarrassed" by.

In an episode of her podcast recorded late final month, Shiffrin known as her expertise at and after Beijing a "catalyst for indescribable development." She started working with a psychologist later that yr, she stated, who helped her course of her grief over her father's passing.

"To today, [I'm] nonetheless making an attempt to grasp sure items of Beijing solely outdoors of outcomes and efficiency, and I've discovered a lot about myself in that course of," she stated.

A freak damage in Killington Then got here the puncture wound. Late in 2024, throughout an enormous slalom race in Killington, Vt., Shiffrin crashed right into a slalom gate and suffered a freak damage to her stomach that left her in blinding ache and bleeding into her ski go well with. Restoration from the wound, which entailed a whole piercing of her stomach wall, took months.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1573x1049+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc2%2F16%2F5a969ed34d608e06cf19bdda5cc1%2Fap25282367648221.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1573x1049+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc2%2F16%2F5a969ed34d608e06cf19bdda5cc1%2Fap25282367648221.jpg" class="img" alt="Mikaela Shiffrin tumbles onto her back in the snow after crashing in the giant slalom skiing race." loading="lazy"/> Mikaela Shiffrin crashes through the second run of a girls's World Cup large slalom snowboarding race on Nov. 30, 2024, in Killington, Vt. Robert F. Bukaty/AP disguise caption

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Robert F. Bukaty/AP Even after Shiffrin was bodily match to return to racing, she found one other factor holding her again: PTSD from the Killington crash. For months, she discovered herself unable to ski large slalom races with out unconscious hesitation. Even this yr, as she raced large slalom efficiently, a podium end eluded her till simply two weeks in the past.

"Once I evaluate this season to final season, the place I used to be getting back from the damage and I could not think about snowboarding sooner G.S. — I could not think about ever attending to a spot the place I may very well be contending for prime tens, prime fives, not to mention podiums — it is fairly spectacular to have my World Cup podium once more," she stated Saturday.

Now she has arrived in Cortina. First up is the workforce mixed occasion by which Shiffrin will ski slalom alongside a teammate who will ski the downhill. (Her teammate can be named on Monday.) Then the person races will observe: large slalom on Feb. 15, adopted by her specialty, the slalom, on Feb. 18.

"There's undoubtedly a concern of disappointment," she stated in her podcast. "I additionally discover that being right here on this second proper now could be loads much less nerve-wracking as a complete than how I anticipated it to be getting into the season."

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Olympic skier Mikaela Shiffrin has identified grief, PTSD, freak damage : NPR

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