Winter Olympics 2022

Alpine Preview: All Eyes on Mikaela Shiffrin

3 min read
FILE - United States' Mikaela Shiffrin competes during the first run of an alpine ski, World Cup women's slalom in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022. Shiffrin is hoping to enter all five individual Alpine skiing races at the Beijing Olympics and add to her career total of three Winter Games medals. The 26-year-old American could be the star of the show but she will be challenged by Slovakia's Petra Vlhova and Italy's Sofia Goggia. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca, File)

(AP) -- After her first Winter Games triumph as a teenager in 2014, Mikaela Shiffrin gushed about "dreaming of the next Olympics (and) winning five gold medals" -- which not only didn't happen, of course, but wasn't even possible because the American ended up not competing in every Alpine event four years later.

Now a veteran of 26, Shiffrin aims to be in the starting gate at the Beijing Olympics for the slalom, giant slalom, super-G, downhill and combined. She knows, though, that just entering everything will be a challenge in itself, let alone claiming a haul of medals to add to the two golds and one silver she has from past Olympics, which go along with a half-dozen world championship golds and a trio of World Cup overall titles.

"I have to do a lot more preparation, like, mentally -- just understanding how that is going to affect me mentally and physically throughout, essentially, the three weeks that we're there," said Shiffrin.

Shiffrin, who is from Colorado, frequently talks about what it will take to avoid feeling uncomfortable on, or even between, race days. There is a lot wrapped up in that area as she heads to her third Olympics, from the back spasms that limited her preparation in November, to the bout with COVID-19 she experienced in late December, to her first "did not finish" in a slalom in four years that came in January, to the many stress factors she sounds at ease discussing and dissecting.

SURPRISE!

Usually, test events are held on an Olympic hill a year or more ahead of time, giving ski racers a chance to check out the site and train and compete on the course. Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, those were scrapped.

THE FAVORITES

If the casual fan knows current World Cup overall leader Shiffrin's name the best, anyone who follows ski racing closely is aware of two prominent challengers: Petra Vlhova, a 26-year-old from Slovakia, and Sofia Goggia, a 29-year-old from Italy.

MEN TO WATCH

Marco Odermatt, a 24-year-old from Switzerland, will head to his first Olympics as a potential star-in-the-making. Second in the overall is 2019-20 champion Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, a 29-year-old from Norway.

BYE, LINDSEY AND LIGETY

The U.S. ski team is now without three-time Olympic medalist Lindsey Vonn and double gold medalist Ted Ligety.

Shiffrin is not the only American worth watching, though. Breezy Johnson has three second-place appearances behind Goggia in downhills this season.

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