She doesn’t pretend this isn’t hard. Devastating, even. When you’ve won as often as Mikaela Shiffrin – three overall World Cup titles, two Olympic gold medals, more victories on alpine skiing’s top flight than all but two people in history – the acid taste of coming up short under the brightest lights will never be easy. Nor should it.
But as the 26-year-old American stood at the bottom of the women’s super-G course on Friday having crossed the finish line for the first time in three races at the Beijing Olympics, the familiar smile that’s been absent throughout the most arduous week of her professional life was back.
