Mikaela Shiffrin

[4ster]

That's good for the sport of skiing as a whole.

Good for the soul!

Apparently skipping LL was part of the plan-

Oh thanks!
That helps clarify her decision.
Nice to be back on topic

 

[Uncle-A]

Well, if anyone wants to write a manifesto on what's wrong with society, or more specifically how sports should be organized, all well and good, but can we keep this thread a little more focused on our admiration and appreciation for this woman's skill and dedication that has resulted in her being an amazing skier, and follow her pursuit of excellence and becoming the most accomplished alpine skier in World Cup history?

I agree with this. Thanks David

 

[markojp]

Right, and these are not binary questions and often it is matter of degree. But...

Consumer demand is manufactured via marketing. If not Mikaela then profiteers would be hawking something else. I'm arguing for a more organic, genuine process not tied to selling something.

How many of those young female fans of Mikaela bought the $150 pink ski poles that are hardly different than the $25 ski poles, especially in the hands of a 10-year old intermediate? And that $125 price difference, mostly profit is above and beyond the cost and reasonable profit.

Libertarian economics -/ nah

Dunno. I like watching her. My son does too. We haven't purchased anything related to what her sponsors sell other than a couple boxes of spaghetti. It was on sale.

 

[Primoz]

@Parnellia is actually quite righ with this. Maybe you and me didn't buy anything because of Shiffrin or Hirscher or I don't know who (I buy Barilla because of their pasta and couldn't care less if Shiffrin has their logo on helmet or not, as if nothing else I was buying Barilla pasta before she ever made it to World cup and way before she signed her deal with Barilla). But look around a bit. Around here (Slovenia, Austria, Italy, France, Switzerland) you go skiing, and there's 1000s of little Hirschers around you. All of them in full Atomic outfit with Raiffeisenbank logos on helmets. And with "little Hirschers" I didn't mean 10 years old kids only, but also 70 years old grandpas and everyone else in between.
But then again, is this bad thing? I don't know, it's part of the business, and it makes so many people live from this. Without this, companies wouldn't be interested in sponsoring anything, and without sponsors and without money, we can literally forget about any top level sport. For sure top level/pro sport is not something that needs to exists for anyone to survive, but neither does music, film, theaters and 1000s other non-essential professions and services. And even though pro sport doesn't need to exists, it's still nice to watch it sometimes. After spending more then half of my life in pro sport (as athlete and as coach and serviceman later), I probably look at this different then most, but for me it's good thing to have. If you are still active and do sport, it gives you some perspective to huge difference between your abilities and what human are really capable of. With just recreational sport, we would see performances that are 10% of what human body is really able to achieve. Sure it wouldn't be end of the world, but I think it's not all that bad to have pro sport either. And on the end, everyone him/herself decides if they want to spend money on something just because some athlete wears, eats, drives or ski with. If someone wants to do that fine, if not it's also fine.

 

[maple19]

@Parnellia is actually quite righ with this. Maybe you and me didn't buy anything because of Shiffrin or Hirscher or I don't know who (I buy Barilla because of their pasta and couldn't care less if Shiffrin has their logo on helmet or not, as if nothing else I was buying Barilla pasta before she ever made it to World cup and way before she signed her deal with Barilla). But look around a bit. Around here (Slovenia, Austria, Italy, France, Switzerland) you go skiing, and there's 1000s of little Hirschers around you. All of them in full Atomic outfit with Raiffeisenbank logos on helmets. And with "little Hirschers" I didn't mean 10 years old kids only, but also 70 years old grandpas and everyone else in between.
But then again, is this bad thing? I don't know, it's part of the business, and it makes so many people live from this. Without this, companies wouldn't be interested in sponsoring anything, and without sponsors and without money, we can literally forget about any top level sport. For sure top level/pro sport is not something that needs to exists for anyone to survive, but neither does music, film, theaters and 1000s other non-essential professions and services. And even though pro sport doesn't need to exists, it's still nice to watch it sometimes. After spending more then half of my life in pro sport (as athlete and as coach and serviceman later), I probably look at this different then most, but for me it's good thing to have. If you are still active and do sport, it gives you some perspective to huge difference between your abilities and what human are really capable of. With just recreational sport, we would see performances that are 10% of what human body is really able to achieve. Sure it wouldn't be end of the world, but I think it's not all that bad to have pro sport either. And on the end, everyone him/herself decides if they want to spend money on something just because some athlete wears, eats, drives or ski with. If someone wants to do that fine, if not it's also fine.

There’s nothing wrong with criticizing the commercialization of the sport. But if someone doesn’t have respect for Shiffrin and her accomplishments and dedication to the sport (@Parnellia seems to imply that they would have more respect for her if she was a recreational skier having babies right now!), then I don’t know why they’re here. Like someone else said, this thread is for appreciating this legendary athlete. Stating that her choice of profession is morally wrong is certainly not that.

More on topic, I’m happy to see that she’s planning on doing St. Moritz. There’s been some mixed messages from Team Shiffrin about speed this season and I was beginning to worry that she wouldn’t be doing any speed races at all, as it seems like the focus is still very much on tech. I understand why, but she’s simply too good at SG not to be racing it IMO.

 

[fatbob]

She was never going to ski everything so it's not really a big deal skipping a trip back to NA to get in more (glacier?) training blocks.

Re adulation of sports stars - she's admirable for her work rate and positive attitude. I suspect she's also become more of a rounded human being as a result of (pretty sad) life experiences and when she calls it it'll be right for her regardless of whether she's smashed records or not along the way. I'd hope the team around Project Shiffrin have at least a weather eye out on "what next" even while she remains focused on the job.

 

[S.H.]

She was never going to ski everything so it's not really a big deal skipping a trip back to NA to get in more (glacier?) training blocks.

Re adulation of sports stars - she's admirable for her work rate and positive attitude. I suspect she's also become more of a rounded human being as a result of (pretty sad) life experiences and when she calls it it'll be right for her regardless of whether she's smashed records or not along the way. I'd hope the team around Project Shiffrin have at least a weather eye out on "what next" even while she remains focused on the job.

I mean she was already in NA for the Killington races...

 

[JCF]

I also think it is legit to criticize that the sporting world has made deals with the devil - and it is most offensive to see the impact on grade school sports….

BUT - I agree this is not the place to do so, and since sports are a big part of modern life it is more important than ever to celebrate those athletes who have not sold their souls and who are very positive role models.
And MS - and it seems to me the rest of the current FIS athletes, currently present an image that is the antithesis of what has gone wrong with sports and a lot of athletes. And I would say that even if that image is a manufactured one - but I don’t believe it is.

 

[PinnacleJim]

I am pretty much turned off by most of professional sports and their overpaid athletes. But I see WC ski racing as much more down to earth. Nowhere near the huge amounts of money in the sport (except for maybe the elite few) and thus not the distortion of values you see in pro baseball, football and the like.

 

[Primoz]

There’s nothing wrong with criticizing the commercialization of the sport. But if someone doesn’t have respect for Shiffrin and her accomplishments and dedication to the sport (@Parnellia seems to imply that they would have more respect for her if she was a recreational skier having babies right now!), then I don’t know why they’re here. Like someone else said, this thread is for appreciating this legendary athlete. Stating that her choice of profession is morally wrong is certainly not that.

Well I didn't know this in bold either. I thought this thread was for things about Shiffrin, not just about praising her. But I'm from otherside of the ocean, where things are (still) not only PC and nothing bad should be said, so maybe I got this part wrong.

 

[robertc3]

I don't know that this thread is only for adoration or appreciation of MS. I think any topical discussion is fair game. If someone wants to discuss the amorality of professional sports that probably belongs in a different thread, or maybe even a different forum. Certainly MS is no less moral than Markus Eder, Marcus Caston, or Tess Ledeux. They all make their living on skis in one way or another. Seems like a great way to make a living to me.

 

[charlier]

This WC SG race might have been posted on a different thread.

 

[James]

With career records in view, Mikaela Shiffrin knows nothing is promised​

Tim Layden
NBC Sports

——————
…In the three-plus seasons since that remarkable 2019 campaign, Shiffrin has won a total of 16 races (40 of Shiffrin’s 76 wins were crammed into three hyper-successful seasons from 2017-’19). She has changed since then, and she has been changed — by personal tragedy, by injury, by the realization of personal and professional mortality which young athletes deny successfully and older athletes either deny unsuccessfully or accept and fight against. What seemed easy has become much more difficult. (Of course, it was always difficult, Shiffrin just made it look easy, which is what the exceptional among us do.) And she has endured, most of all…

After the death of her father, Shiffrin did not race for over 300 days, much of that time during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which World Cup racing continued with relatively few cancellations (although with many interruptions and absences, and of course, no spectators). She returned and won three races in the 2021 season, pushing her total to 69. Content that highlighted her status in that moment often noted that she was “back.” She was not back. She will never be “back” in that simplistic, sports-centric way.

“Coming back to racing after my father passed,” says Shiffrin. “So many people said, ‘Well, you’re back.’ And then I won again and people said, ‘Wow, you’re really back.’ Actually, I was still really struggling.”
—————-

With career records in view, Mikaela Shiffrin knows nothing is promised

As Mikaela Shiffrin approaches ski racing history, Tim Layden sits down with the three-time Olympic medalist for a wide-ranging conversation.

olympics.nbcsports.com

 

[Tricia]

This on her Twitter feed.
Note to self: Don't throat punch yourself.

 

[Paul Lutes]

Addendum to Note: get shorter poles.

 

[crgildart]

LOVE that she's kicking ass in the speed events now!

 

[Pete in Idaho]

Thanks for all the info on MS, the NBC article was very well written and well thought out.

 

[Pete in Idaho]

The pole in the throat trick reminds me of a ski day at Mt Bachelor. While obviously I am no Mikaela race training, stuff like the throat punch does happen. Skiing some 30 yrs ago in the rain, right after Thanksgiving I was headed for a lift that was up on a point and one had to basically ski up the side of a road to gain the right elevation to access the lift line. No problem at all up the side I went, planted my right pole in front of me and ran right into the handle and my clenched hand. Blow to chest knocked me down and really hurt, chest bruised for 2 weeks. Funny after 30yrs still remember being that stupid.

 

[Swede]

It did a variant of the pole in the throat trick a few years ago — the bust a pole with your cheek trick. Fell forward on the planted pole with such force, that the pole broke. Had a post UFC fight type of look for the following week.

 

[DocGKR]

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