At the age of 29, Mikaela Shiffrin is the first female ski racer to break the sound barrier of 100 World Cup victories. The American is like the antithesis of former record winner Lindsey Vonn.
23.02.2025, 21:15
23.02.2025, 21:25
SDA
Despite a two-month forced break due to an abdominal muscle injury and a seven-centimeter deep wound, as well as an operation in December, Mikaela Shiffrin achieved her 100th victory before her 30th birthday on 13 March. After her comeback at the end of January in Courchevel, where she finished tenth, the American used the next World Cup slalom to break the magic mark and once again prove her exceptional status in her special discipline.
The record chase came to a temporary halt after the crashes last season in Cortina d'Ampezzo and in November in Killington. But an end to her winning streak is not yet in sight. Because she not only skis fast, but also skillfully manages the risks.
Lindsey Vonn's work had a lot to do with the exploitation of her own body. Shiffrin's compatriot left no stone unturned to reach Ingemar Stenmark's mark of 86 victories in the final stages of her career. After 82 victories and a number of serious crashes and injuries, she had to capitulate, physically scarred and mentally battered. "Lindsey Vonn can't and doesn't like it anymore" was the headline of the Keystone-SDA news agency in February 2019.
Vonn's mistakes
Cruciate ligament ruptures, a torn medial collateral ligament, a fractured tibial plateau, an ankle fracture and a fractured humerus adorned Vonn's medical records after 18 seasons in the World Cup. These were the consequences of Vonn's fearless, often overzealous skiing style. She repeatedly exceeded the limits of what was possible and paid the price for it.
Third place in the World Championship downhill in Are was Vonn's last race until she made her comeback in December at the age of 40 with a partially artificial knee joint. Although she can no longer run smoothly, since the operation in April she feels able to ski again without pain. It is not utopian that Vonn will win again. But Shiffrin is far away from her.
Shiffrin is not yet 30 - and almost 14 years after her World Cup debut, she is still in very good physical condition. It almost seems as if she has learned from the mistakes of her predecessor. The fact that she has largely escaped serious injury is down to her skiing ability and clever risk management. Although Shiffrin has also won four World Cup downhill races, she avoids taking the final risk in the fastest discipline, or she doesn't compete at all. After her most serious crash to date a year ago in Cortina d'Ampezzo, she has completely avoided the downhill this season.
Shiffrin has been in a league of her own for years, especially in the slalom. Shiffrin has won 63 of her 100 victories in the poles. In 116 starts, she has finished on the podium 87 times.
Not a predator
Shiffrin is something like the antithesis of Vonn. The American, who is almost ten years younger, ticks completely differently. She doesn't overexploit her own body, doesn't take risks and sometimes skips races if she doesn't feel like it. Shiffrin is also not a drama queen who puts herself at the center of attention and refuses to give interviews after defeats. And unlike Vonn, she doesn't chase records, she takes them in her stride.
"It's not the records that drive me," Shiffrin has repeatedly emphasized in recent years. And yet she is already the most successful female ski racer of all time before her 30th birthday - something that particularly impresses former racers like the German Felix Neureuther. "You can't think of anything else, it's unbelievable. She is by far the greatest of all time. I can't imagine for the life of me that there will ever be anyone like her again," says the current TV pundit about Vonn's successor.
What fascinates him about Shiffrin, says Neureuther, is "that Shiffrin was already so good at a young age and still keeps motivating herself and reinventing herself. She could have said long ago: I've won everything and I'm quitting. But she keeps on improving." There are therefore no limits for Shiffrin: "I trust her to do anything."
Shiffrin skis incredibly consistently and almost never drops out, says Neureuther. "That's amazing and enormous. She is strong in her head, her training is great and she is simply so much better than everyone else. She often only skis at 80 percent and still wins." The fact that Shiffrin is hardly ever seriously injured is incredible and "shows what physical condition the woman is in".
The death of her father
Significantly, the biggest dent in Shiffrin's career is not due to an injury, but the death of her father at the beginning of 2020 after a fall from a roof while working at home. Shiffrin withdrew from the World Cup as overall leader at the time, leaving Federica Brignone to take the next big crystal globe, which had been reserved for her, without a fight. Retirement was an issue, Shiffrin admitted. The record for the most victories, which was getting ever closer, did not play a role in her thoughts. When the then 74-time World Cup winner returned, she continued to win.
Of course, athletes don't always openly display their ambition. And anyone who wants to make it to the top of the world or even become a record winner undoubtedly needs a large portion of it. In terms of character, however, Shiffrin is much closer to the sportsman Roger Federer than Lindsey Vonn or the "cannibal" Eddy Merckx, driven by his boundless will to win, who as a cyclist achieved 525 victories on the road and whose hunger was not satisfied even after the 524th.
"Be nice. Think first. Have fun," was one of Shiffrin's father Jeff's credos: "Be nice. Think first. Have fun." The daughter has internalized it.
