“Probably One of the Hardest Things to Do in the US”: Mikaela Shiffrin Announces Her Next Target After Historic Run

Mikaela Shiffrin is arguably one of the most celebrated Alpine skiers out there at present. While she is the record-setter of the most number of World Cups, amongst men and women, many might be wondering about her next step in the ladder. The youngest slalom champion in Olympic alpine skiing history has finally let her fans in on the next goal that she has put her mind into.

Mikaela Shiffrin is ready to branch out. The most triumphant participant in Alpine World Cup, the two-time Olympic gold medalist now wants to try her hand at downhill. The question is, what has suddenly prompted the queen of slalom to pivot downhill now?

Mikaela Shiffrin- the next big thing in downhill?

With 88 World Cup wins to her name, Shiffrin is now the world leader in FIS Alpine Ski World Cup career wins. She surpassed the Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark’s record with her 87th win. One might say she has reached the zenith in alpine skiing, but Mikaela Shiffrin wants more. According to an interview with Reuters, the Olympian wants to broaden her horizons and make it big in the downhill as well.

Shiffrin told Reuters, “I don’t think I could ever switch from slalom to downhill. But I do feel like I want to branch more into exploring what my abilities are in downhill.” Shiffrin also revealed that even though she held great command over slalom giant, slalom super-G, there are still some elements she lacked when it came to downhill. But getting the hang of downhill is not her only goal. Alpine skiing might be a fan favorite in Europe, but in the United States, it still lacks popularity.

Read more: “Most Surprising Thing of My Olympics”: Mikaela Shiffrin Was Overwhelmed by the Kind Support She Received Despite Failing in Two Events

According to Shiffrin, “Probably one of the hardest things to do in the U.S., specifically, is to actually tap into all the talent that exists.” Mikaela Shiffrin also gave a sound reason as to why she thought so. She explained, “You actually need to put development systems in place and you need to cover the span of the entire country everywhere where snow would be a possibility for anybody. And it’s a lot of ground to cover.” In the meantime, Shiffrin is all set to improve on her already unmatched skiing skills.

Shiffrin has set herself out to challenge herself

While her fans might think that Shiffrin does not need any more training, Shiffrin thinks otherwise. Mikaela Shiffrin just returned from a camp in Norway, where she spent time with new head coach Karin Harjo, the former Alpine Canada women’s national coach. There, she worked with Harjo to improve her speed in both downhill and super-G.

She not only learned some new techniques on the ice but she got introduced to some technological hacks as well. Shiffrin revealed, “She’s been able to develop a kind of spreadsheet for tracking the equipment we use. That’s something I’ve been missing for – honestly, for 12 years.” With the way Shiffrin is moving, like an unstoppable bullet train, soon there will be no skier like her. She might just out-ski every person on this earth.

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