Mikaela Shiffrin finally broke through for the third Olympic gold medal of her storied career by outclassing the competition in Wednesday's women's slalom. The skiing star was able to put some bad memories in the rearview mirror along with her opponents as she breezed to redemption.
Shiffrin has been one of the premier athletes in the sport for more than a decade and looked to be on a trajectory for routine Olympic success after she captured a gold in the 2014 Sochi Game and another in Pyeongchang four years later. But a disastrous showing in Beijing in 2022 that saw her go home without a medal and crash in half of her six events, plus missing out on the podium in her first two events in Milan Cortina, prolonged the wait.
Having also fought back from a 2024 injury that resulted in a punctured abdomen and PTSD, Shiffrin remained optimistic and focused en route to the long-elusive gold.
And it turns out that she executed a very simple vision.
"Honestly, the skiing is what I cared about. And for sure, of course, the medal, and the gold — I mean, that's a dream come true," Shiffrin told NBC's Cara Banks in a post-win interview.
"But at some point this week, I just said, like, 'Stop dreaming, just ski.' This whole time has been waiting for two 45 second (runs) today to be able to ski, and I'm so happy to be able to do the right thing in the right moment."
Shiffrin's commitment to simplicity led her to realization of a dream that's been on ice for nearly a decade. It also generated a powerful outpouring of support from her Team USA colleagues who were delighted by the win. Perhaps they can exploy a similar no-frills strategy in their own events going forward.
More Winter Olympics on Sports Illustrated
- Penguins Coach Shares Live Reaction to Sidney Crosby Getting Hurt in Olympics
- Mikaela Shiffrin Reflects on Gold Medal Win in Heartfelt Social Media Post
- Jon Cooper Shares His Message to Team Canada After Sidney Crosby's Injury vs. Czechia
- Amber Glenn Makes Light of Unfortunate Skating Mistake in Funny TikTok Post
- Mikaela Shiffrin Vanquishes Olympic Nightmare by Reminding Us of Her Greatness
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mikaela Shiffrin Reveals Simple Plan That Resulted in Elusive Third Gold Medal.
