How ‘Frozen II’ Led Mikaela Shiffrin to the Record Books
In just 11 months, Shiffrin has gone from Olympic disappointment to the brink of history
Just 11 months ago, Mikaela Shiffrin sat stuck on the side of a Beijing mountain. She was supposed to be skiing. Supposed to be winning here, at the Olympics, where many expected her to become the first American woman to ever win three golds at one tournament. What most didn’t know, when thrusting those expectations upon her, was that Shiffrin was reeling in her personal life. Her father had just died, suddenly. A slew of injuries had kept her from competing. She’d lie in bed at night thinking, “You’re just not cut out for this.”
With that in her mind, Shiffrin skied out of bounds on her first run in Beijing and failed to finish two other races. She appeared utterly lost.
That’s why Shiffrin sat, straight in the snow besides the course she should have been racing down. She sat for twenty minutes in all, trying to figure out what to do, what was wrong. A simple thought eventually revealed itself to her. Shiffrin explained to ESPN, "There's a scene in 'Frozen II' where Anna sings, 'Just do the next right thing.’ That was the thought. Not, 'What is the next day going to bring?' Or, 'What is the next race going to bring?' Just, 'What's the next step I have to take?'"
Shiffrin stood up. She kept trying at those Olympics, and even though she fell short of the podium, took solace in the fact that she’d taken a step in the right direction—in any direction—at all. After the Olympics ended, Shiffrin kept skiing, and a few weeks later, doing the next right thing won her the World Cup finals in Courcheval, France.
Now, she’s back in the news, on the precipice of history.
Last Sunday, Shiffrin won her eighth World Cup race of the season and the 82nd of her career, a total that leveled her with Lindsey Vonn as the most ever won by a woman. She’s only four away from matching Swedish racer Ingemar Stenmark’s all-time total of 86.
When she finished the run that would win her race number 82, the crowd roared and a sportscaster jammed a microphone in Shiffrin’s face. Everyone wanted to know about The Record. Shriffin wasn’t interested in the conversation.
“I’m trying not to think about it, honestly,” she said, laughing. “I’m really trying not to change my goals for this record.”
She continued: “You know, I come back to ski racing [after my dad’s death] and everyone’s like, ‘Well, she just lost it, and she’s probably not going to win again. Then flash forward to now, and it’s like, ‘Whoa, she’s going to win 100 races.’ Like, guys, shit … Is it ever gonna be enough? No, it’s not.”
Instead, as everyone else’s expectations have grown, her focus has narrowed. A race is won one turn at a time, so Shiffrin finds no use in thinking about anything on a scale larger than the elemental. All she focuses on are turns, and as she kept talking about the record-tying race, that’s where her focus remained. “I want to see the run,” she said. She wanted to analyze her performance, see where she could improve.
Hearing Shiffrin speak reminded me of the woman whose record she was breaking. Last year, Lindsey Vonn walked us through her thought process during races in an episode of Greatness Code. “If I can remember what I’m thinking during a race, I probably didn’t win,” she told us.
“What does skiing represent for you?” director Gotham Chopra asked.
“For me, skiing is a release of all that energy. It’s a way of expression and meditation at the same time.”
I imagine that whether she was aware of it or not, as she sped down the slopes last week in pursuit of history, Shiffrin was powered by that time, not long ago, when she was stuck, when she turned towards a cartoon to remind herself to just do the next right thing. Everything can be fuel, and everything can be a reminder.
Just one turn, then another, then another. Before you know it, those turns might just make you the greatest skier of all time.
🎙️ Former Miami Heat guard (and Twitter superstar) Rex Chapman dropped 39 points while defeating Michael Jordan and the feared 1996 Chicago Bulls. This week, he joined our own David Greene on In The Moment to discuss that night, his struggles with addiction, and more.
🐏 The LA Times’ Sam Farmer is as good as anyone covering the NFL. I loved his latest piece on the Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, and it’s an interesting take on many of the issues that Mikaela Shiffrin has faced. Is it possible to win too much, too soon?
🗽 The New York Giants are back in the playoffs, in part thanks to the play of quarterback Daniel Jones. He credits his improvement this year to a man who failed as a high school QB.
📼 What a pitch-perfect essay on the glory of fan-made college football highlight tapes.
🥸 A star in Spain’s La Liga wanted to play in a renegade league. His team wouldn’t let him. So he took a page out of the script of luchadores…
🔥 An oldie but a goodie. You have to watch Nolan Ryan throw out a first pitch. He’s still got it.
