By It’s perhaps an understatement when Mikaela Shiffrin says that she has been on “quite a journey” this season.
That doesn’t do justice to the mental and physical obstacles she has had to overcome in order to reach a landmark 100th World Cup win, a feat she finally achieved in the Italian resort of Sestriere on Sunday.
To begin to understand the months-long ordeal the American skier has had to endure in the build-up to that history-making victory, you first have to go back to November 30 when Shiffrin crashed out of a giant slalom race in Killington, Vermont.
Physically, the impact of that crash was brutal: Severe muscle trauma and a seven-centimeter-deep (about 2.76 inches) puncture wound to the abdomen which Shiffrin said nearly pushed into her colon.
“It’s been such a constant grind to get my muscles back to a functioning place,” she told CNN Sport. “In the context of ski racing, the obliques, internal and external, are some of the most important muscles that we have. Besides our legs, it’s some of the most important parts of the body. … It’s been a really, really big, very steep uphill battle just to get back to skiing.”
Shiffrin returned to competition two months after the crash and placed 10th in the slalom event in Courchevel, rekindling her pursuit of a 100th career win.
A women’s team combined gold medal alongside Breezy Johnson at the world championships followed, but mental scars from the November crash still lingered. The issues were compounded by two crashes she had experienced around the same time, which included hitting her head and having to go through the concussion protocol.
It was against this backdrop that Shiffrin, prior to the team event, announced that she was withdrawing from the giant slalom at the world championships due to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“When we got over here (Europe) and I started to really get into the intensity with giant slalom, there’s this kind of mind-body disconnect,” says Shiffrin. “I’m telling myself to do certain technical moves and it’s just not happening.
“My body’s screaming at me, it’s like a fight or flight: ‘No, don’t do it, it’s risky, it’s dangerous.’ … This whole journey has felt a little bit like whiplash, I think, for me and for the whole team.”
That was just a snapshot of some of the intrusive thoughts that hampered the 29-year-old during her comeback. According to Shiffrin, she also struggled with the lasting effects of another crash in Italy at the start of last year, as well as her father’s sudden death from an accident at home four years ago.
“It’s been quite a road the last year, for sure,” she says, “but especially the last few weeks. It all kind of came bubbling to the surface and yeah – no shortage of tears on Sunday, that’s for sure.”
Shiffrin finished 0.61 seconds ahead of the field as she claimed the 100th World Cup win of her career in Sestriere – 14 more than the next-best downhill skier, Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark, and 18 more than the next woman on the all-time list, compatriot Lindsey Vonn.
With her win in Italy, the two-time Olympic champion also made another piece of history in equaling Stenmark’s record of 155 podium finishes at World Cup events. And the bad news for her rivals is that she’s not done yet, especially as she remains determined to overcome her demons in the giant slalom.
At this stage, it’s more about discovering her own potential after recovering from the crash, rather than chasing any tangible results or milestones.
“Can I get back to a level in giant slalom that’s competitive with the top racers?” says Shiffrin. “For me, that’s really overwhelming and a little bit stressful to think about, but it’s also kind of exciting.
“There’s this feeling of 100 almost being like resetting to zero, this idea of resetting the sport. I feel like I’m resetting myself a little bit, and I’m hoping to, I guess, ride that wave and see where it goes.”
The 100th win has also given Shiffrin the chance to give back to the sport that means so much to her. Teaming up with the Share Winter Foundation, she wants to raise $100,000 to fund 800 days on the snow for young people who might otherwise not get to experience time in the mountains.
She has agreed to match each donation for the first $10,000, committing to a cause which she said is “far bigger” than winning 100 races in her skiing career.
“I’m talking about the PTSD and the mental challenges of ski racing, but being on the mountain is healing,” says Shiffrin. “It’s mentally so healing, it’s such a beautiful thing, and there are so many people, I think, that would benefit from it.”
Healing, both mental and physical, has been a key part of Shiffrin’s season to date. As she takes the next steps in her career – wounds mending and that 100th win now secured – it feels like the sky is truly the limit for one of the world’s greatest ever skiers.
