There is a lot more than what meets the eye when it comes to Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin. From the outside, they might look like two compatriots vying to be crowned the all-time great. But deep down, they are exceptionally passionate women whose careers have been derailed by the wraths of injuries yet have lifted themselves up and added great value to the sport as skiing veterans. But are retirement bells nearing for one of them?
Well, speaking of Mikaela Shiffrin’s moment of bidding adieu to the game, Vonn simply doesn’t think it’s in the offing anytime soon. In fact, she recently told Olympics.com, “She[Shiffrin] can go as long as she wants. I think it’s just a matter of whether she wants to and if she can stay healthy.”
However, per Lindsey Vonn, Mikaela Shiffrin might want to narrow her choice of disciplines to the safer options. She remarked, “Slalom is a lot less risky than downhill, and I think we saw this year when she [Shiffrin] crashed in downhill that it’s a challenging event. But in slalom, she could definitely continue racking up as many wins as she wants. Plus, she can win in all five disciplines, and that’s something she can definitely do.”
Vonn may have opined this today, but Mikaela Shiffrin’s decision came days prior. Over a week ago, she announced that although she’s returning to the sport this FIS Ski World Cup, thanks to her patient days in rehabilitation, she has dropped the downhill discipline off the list. Instead, she’ll now go ahead with the select choices of slalom, giant slalom, and super-G. The reason being, “The amount of time downhill training takes is just too much to do the discipline justice.”
Thus, Vonn’s idea of winning all disciplines seems practically impossible for Shiffrin now. Especially after Mikaela, who turned 29 this March, recently faced a major blow in the shape of an unanticipated crash in January. In a downhill race on the Italian slopes of Cortina d’Ampezzo, she lost her control during a jump and bumped straight into the safety nets.
While this restricted Mikaela Shiffrin 3 races short of a century of World Cup wins, Vonn believes she is is the right direction and has been for a while as an advocate for the sport. Truly, the two harbor great respect for each other in their hearts, and that came out when Shiffrin recently commented on Lindsey Vonn’s skiing comeback too.
Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn have been former teammates, competing as the USA’s finest elite skiers on the global stage. Yet, the tussle between them for the all-time great title is undeniable. Until 2015, Vonn’s position looked indomitable, with 63 World Cup wins. In the next four years, she retired from the sport with a total of 82, which was marginally less than Ingemar Stenmark’s highest record of 86 wins.
However, in the recent past, Mikaela Shiffrin has made winning seem as easy as a walk in the park— or rather a ride down the slope. With 97 wins currently, she is just short of touching a record 100 wins, which Lindsey Vonn believes “would be an incredible milestone.” On another note, Shiffrin is equally intrigued by the possibility of how many skiers are making a comeback this season, including Vonn.
Although she lacked concrete information on Lindsey Vonn’s comeback, Mikaela Shiffrin said, “I only heard about this really recently, so I don’t actually have too much to say.” However, she extended her best wishes, saying, “I would just say good luck, I mean, I wish her the best.” And now, it turns out that Lindsey Vonn has shared Mikaela Shiffrin’s frustration over the broadcasting issue that alpine skiing has been facing in America. Here’s what the veterans had to say in agreement with each other.
