Alpine skiing: Shiffrin aims for 100 in Vermont, where she shaped herself

American Mikaela Shiffrin is aiming for a 100th World Cup victory this weekend in Killington (Vermont), in the state where her obsession with the fundamentals of skiing launched her rise to the summits as a teenager.

A phenomenon of precocity, Shiffrin debuted in the World Cup two days before turning 16 on March 11, 2011 in Spindleruv Mlyn (Czech Republic), before a first success at 17 and a first Olympic title, in slalom, at 18 in February 2014 in Sochi.

Before her first international exploits and after her childhood in Vail (Colorado), Mikaela Shiffrin shaped her art at the Burke Mountain Academy, a private ski school near the Canadian border, where she followed training from the age of 11, without having the age to join the establishment of excellence like his big brother Taylor.

“She was just a little girl, but very motivated for her age, she loved skiing and working to improve,” Kirk Dwyer, head coach of the school at the time, told AFP. technicians who accompanied the rise of the prodigy.

“We no longer needed to teach her the fundamentals, it was more a question of refining her technique, she was very advanced but like other athletes of her age.”

On the slopes of the small resort, a two-hour drive north of Killington, Shiffrin arrives first at the ski lifts each morning, and tirelessly practices her scales.

During a training session on Mt Hood, in Oregon, it took her 1 hour 45 minutes to get down the track, patiently going through all the fundamental exercises.

“She worked very hard to master simple things perfectly,” comments Mr. Dwyer, who leads long afternoon video sessions with Mikaela and her mother Eileen, who then accompanied his daughter on the white circus.

“I think she shows her greatest strength in the face of adversity,” adds her former coach, present in Killington this weekend.

When she was 13, the Shiffrins returned to Colorado. Mikaela’s motivation and results plummet: she pushes to return to Vermont, accompanied by her mother, and becomes a winning machine.

After her early exploits in the World Cup, especially in slalom, she exported her talent to several disciplines and won the general classification three times in a row (from 2017 to 2019), before two new big globes in 2022 and 2023.

Her crazy series of successes came to an abrupt halt in February 2020 with the death of her father Jeff in a domestic accident, which occurred while she was in Italy.

“The last thing the doctors told us before we got on the plane was that they were going to do everything possible to keep him alive until we arrived (with his mother),” writes -she on the Player’s Tribune website in 2022.

The months that followed were difficult, on and off the slopes.

“The truth is, I’m never really good, or not good. It depends on the day, and it has nothing to do with my ability to descend quickly from a mountain (…) it’s an injury, but to the soul. There is no recovery protocol, timetable, or rehabilitation. Some days I wake up and say to myself, what’s the point?

The results returned at the end of 2021, but her sporting rebirth was shattered by a failed Olympic Games in Beijing in February 2022 (no medal, three off-track events), during which she felt “ridiculous”.

His new rebound the following year was spectacular (21 podiums including 15 successes). She highlights her romantic relationship with the Norwegian champion Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and her work in therapy: “failure does not make you a failure,” she understands.

After having surpassed the female victory record of her compatriot Lindsey Vonn (82) then the absolute record of the Swede Ingemar Stenmark (86) at the start of 2023, Shiffrin continues to multiply her exploits, in giant and slalom, and sometimes in speed disciplines.

“She never stopped refining her technique. It has strengthened certain elements, gained strength in recent years,” said Mr. Dwyer, now director of the alpine ski program at Carrabassett Valley Academy.

“The competition became tougher, with Petra Vlhova in particular, she had to respond by increasing her level of skiing, as a competitor she was naturally pushed up.”

So high, that the 100 international victories could be just a part of his rise.