Mikaela Shiffrin admits there’s work to do to achieve ‘dream’ of competing in every Olympic event
:focal(140x151:142x149)/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2020/04/28/2811917-58003384-310-310.png)
Updated 21/10/2021 at 10:31 GMT
Speaking on a media call ahead of the opening weekend of the new Alpine Skiing season at Solden, Mikaela Shiffrin admits she’d love to do all five Olympic events next year. However the American superstar was also candid in saying that if that is going to happen then she’s going to have to do a lot more preparation.
Mikaela Shiffrin will in Peking in jeder Disziplin auf Medaillenjagd gehen
Image credit: Getty Images
Double-Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin has said it would be a “dream” for her to do all five Olympic events in Beijing next year.
Shiffrin will likely go into Beijing as the favourite for both the Slalom and Giant Slalom events, particularly the former where she has won a record 45 in World Cups.
Shiffrin, 26, has also been working hard on her speed events over the past few years and has six wins in Downhill and Super-G combined, as well as a Super-G globe during her astonishing 2018-19 season.
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2021/10/09/3234004-66197348-2560-1440.jpg)
Mikaela Shiffrin
Image credit: Getty Images
Speaking to a group of reporters on a media call ahead of the first meet of the season in Solden, Shiffrin admitted to do all five (adding in Combined) would be a dream, but there’s work to do.
“Something I’m dreaming about right now is to be able to compete in each event in China. But that means I have to do a lot more preparation, mentally,” Shiffrin said from Austria on Friday.
Just understanding how that is going to affect me mentally and physically throughout, essentially, the three weeks that we’re there.
“So it definitely takes a lot of my focus to think: What are the boxes we have to check, even totally outside of skiing and technique and tactics and the physical side of things? What are the boxes we need to check to make sure that I have some comfort level staying in a place that I’ve never been before for three weeks and dealing with the jet lag and getting over that as fast as possible?”
Shiffrin also admitted "Another big dream is to get back to the place where I am a contender for the overall.
"If I could flash forward to the end of the season I'd be far more disappointed if I had essentially skied slow or not stacked up for any of the World Cup races, but somehow won an individual or multiple medals at the Olympics.
"Luck sways the Olympic results so much more than it does in any normal World Cup or when you look at the results for throughout an entire season."
The three-time overall champion said that nothing major would change in her preparation for the season, pointing out that the Olympics offer a similar, if slightly longer, break to the World Championships.
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2021/03/06/3006914-61694008-2560-1440.jpg)
'What a finish!' - Shiffrin storms to Slovakia win
Shiffrin was asked by Eurosport to expand on her comments made at the Atomic media day, where she admitted that she "never feels ready." The American was asked whether there's any point in her racing and preparation where she does feel more ready.
“Yeah, well, the other tricky thing about that is when you look around you, like certain athletes especially look like they feel very ready, and then you see that you have another layer with social media where like a bunch of athletes are posting, like, I cannot wait to start like I wish we were racing tomorrow.
“And I'm like, ‘Well, I don't, I don't wish we were racing tomorrow yet.’ But when we get to the point where we're racing tomorrow, like at that point, first of all, you have no choice.
“And things tend to naturally build to that level where you're like, ‘I've been very excited to raise tomorrow little, you know, maybe a little jittery, but like, let's do this.’
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2021/10/09/3233971-66196688-2560-1440.jpg)
US Mikaela Shiffrin reacts as she crosses the finish line in the second-run of the Women's Slalom on February 20, 2021 at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italian Alps. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP) (Photo by ANDREAS SOLARO/A
Image credit: Getty Images
"So it's like, no, I like I don't mentally feel ready yet. But for sure, I'm not ready with my skiing. Like if you had us race tomorrow I wouldn't race because I haven't skied in the last three weeks. But that's the whole point of coming here at this time and we go through training and it's prep for the first race of the season and for the rest of the season thereafter.
“So it's a step by step process. And it can be really difficult to be training next to or with some of the athletes from other nations who maybe live in Europe and maybe have actually been on snow, on and off for the last two months and pretty much have been in at a race pace for a while now.
“And I'm like, Well, I'm in a race against time to get to that race pace, before the actual race. And so every single day now it feels like a monumental step in a really good direction.
“And every and every day is also not enough. So I would say like you never really feel ready.
“So I think people come up to me or other athletes say, are you ready? And what they're saying is like, are you going to win? And I really can't tell you that.
“But at least I feel like I'm moving in the right direction where I have better intensity, in my training runs, I have higher pace of skiing, and I still feel like there's steps I can take to be faster.
“And, you know, if I have one, I have a chance at the podium, I'm going to have to take this."
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement