Mikaela Shiffrin is slowly making progress. A fortnight ago in Killington, she was involved in a severe accident while competing in the giant slalom. Just a few gates away from the finishing line in her second run, she leaned into the slope, lost her balance, and skidded into a gate, flipping over her skis. Subsequently, she collided with another gate before finally coming to a halt against the protective fencing. That fall made her bow out from the contest and go under medical supervision. Last week, surgery was also carried out to fix the wounds and clear an “old hematoma.” Now, in her home in Edwards, Colorado, Shiffrin is taking her time to regain her health. In the meantime, she has felt shaken by the reality. 

After the day in Killington, the ski racer has gone through several shades. She has received calls and messages from her well-wishers. Also, she had to see her chance of winning the FIS Ski World Cup fading. She even reached her 99th career victory in World Cup races. Moreover, Shiffrin started the season as the favorite. But now, she is far away from the discussion. This change in the situation has left her introspecting. How? 

Mikaela Shiffrin makes her honest confession about everything 

“I’ve had plenty of luck in my career. You can see how easily it goes wrong and how hard it is to just make it to the finish with a fast time on a daily basis,” Mikaela Shiffrin told Shauna Farnell in her home in Edwards. At present, Shiffrin is in her home, recuperating. Amid the busy World Cup season, it is one of the rare moments for her to spend time in her home. But she has reconciled with such fate. Rather, she finds herself lucky to continue ski racing for such a long time despite facing injuries. In her conversation with Farnell of Skiracing.com, Shiffrin claimed, “I’m grateful for how many times I’ve been able to do that.” Per her, one may need a sheer amount of luck to make a place in Alpine ski racing. 

In the same conversation, the five-time World Cup overall champion said, “There’s a fair amount of luck involved.” That’s a fact that can be applied anywhere. How does it stand differently in her story? A moment of deep thought made Shiffrin spill the truth. She subsequently added, “On one hand, you create your own luck through preparation and hard work. On the other hand, I have gratitude for not going through that gate with my neck or having the impact hit my colon.” Indeed, that’s luck. But couldn’t she be more cautious while skiing down the slope? That would have put a limit on luck’s play and everything could be on the individual’s own grip. Would that be a demanding job? That’s where reality hit Mikaela. 

In a moment, she felt that the brutal sport treats everyone equally. Meanwhile, Shiffrin claimed, “I should have been more on my outside ski.” She continued to state, “You’re racing at your limit, and there are fine margins in this sport. It’s a difference of just a couple of centimeters between crashing like that or winning a run. We have to be on the limit, and crashes do happen. If I was just a few feet lower or higher, I might have missed the gate entirely and just skied away.” So, now it is about the dual play of luck and skill. Despite being the most successful downhill ski racer, Mikaela couldn’t avoid the accident, and now she is on her bed. But has it shaken her confidence? It seems not. Instead, she has a history of making a comeback from a cornered situation. Remember January this year? 

The ski racer is ‘not finished yet’

In January this year, Mikaela Shiffrin experienced a significant accident in Cortina d’Ampezzo while competing in a World Cup downhill event. The incident led to a sprained MCL and damage to the tibiofibular ligament in her knee. As a result, she was unable to participate in the next 11 races, missing out on the opportunity to secure the Crystal Globe. The injury, however, prompted her to reflect on her future. Unfortunately, her boyfriend, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, was also facing the same blow because of an injury picked up last year. These whammies left the couple concerned about their future. 

“We’ve had that conversation. We’ve both had moments where we were like, ‘I’m so tired of it, it’s time,”’ claimed Shiffrin while talking about the situation. But soon they washed out the negative thoughts and decided to continue with ski racing. For Shiffrin, the prime reason to make the comeback was to give the sport something back. “It’s like I’m not finished with what I want to give and want to get from the sport,” she said. The list has yet to be fulfilled, though. Shiffrin has yet to get her 100th victory and her project with the Share Winter Foundation has yet to see the daylight. So will she return to tick these boxes? What do you think?