Cortina d’Ampezzo (Italy) (AFP) – Mikaela Shiffrin’s thoughts turned to her deceased father after she ended her long wait for a third Olympic gold by winning the slalom in Cortina on Wednesday. The American star was clearly overcome with emotion after roaring to victory, dropping to the snow as fans hailed two near-perfect runs which gave her a first Olympic medal since winning the giant slalom at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. Her mother Eileen was quick to embrace Shiffrin, who unexpectedly lost her father Jeff just over six years ago, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Shiffrin spent more than 300 days away from skiing after his passing.
“I had some moments today where I could imagine doing the skiing, cross the finish line, and to have this moment actually kind of for myself to connect with the people who can’t be here,” Shiffrin told reporters. “This was a moment I have dreamed about. I’ve also been very scared of this moment. Everything in life that you do after you lose someone you love is like a new experience. It’s like being born again.”
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“I don’t want to be in life without my dad, and maybe today was the first time that I could actually accept this reality, and instead of thinking I would be going in this moment without him, to take the moment to be silent with him.”
Shiffrin became just the second woman to win two Olympic slalom titles, Switzerland’s Vreni Schneider having won golds at the 1994 and 1998 Games. She did so by finishing a whopping 1.50 seconds ahead of her nearest rival Camille Rast, rattling off the fastest and second-fastest runs to banish tough memories of her horror show at the Beijing Games four years ago.
“I can’t even explain what it feels like to cross the finish line and to know before I saw the time that I did that skiing, and then see the time and think, holy shit,” said Shiffrin. “There’s excitement, and in the day, there’s also disappointment. Everybody is experiencing something different, and I think I appreciate that because I’ve been on the other side of it too.”
© 2024 AFP
