OLYMPICS: Alpine skiing-Another Games? Shiffrin sees a change coming in her career

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy – Mikaela Shiffrin continues to set records, collect victories, and add more medals to her already storied career.

But the most successful Alpine skier in World Cup history, and one of the greatest of all time, admitted Thursday that she isn’t yet thinking far ahead about her sporting future.

“I don't know if I have an answer for that,” the American told Reuters.

“I’m so in it right now. There’s actually so much left of this season. It’s a big goal for me to be competing for this overall title. And there are potentially four to six races left in the season for me. There’s so many things to look forward to.

“I feel that there’s some kind of transition in my career coming closer, but I don’t know what that looks like and I don’t know how to say it.”

Most Olympic Golds by a U.S. Alpine Skier

At 30, Shiffrin now holds the most Olympic gold medals ever won by a U.S. skier, along with a record 108 World Cup wins.

Her slalom title on Wednesday marked her third Olympic gold since her first in 2014, giving her a total of four Olympic medals. At the World Championships, she has 15 medals, eight of them gold.

Shiffrin, engaged to Norwegian skier Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, is also chasing her sixth overall World Cup crystal globe and has already secured her ninth smaller slalom globe – another record.

“Every day I go out for training and I love it,” she said. “I love skiing, I love training, and I love practicing.

“So I don’t know how it looks for the next four years. Four years feels like a really long time, but also it goes by so fast. I could tell you something now, and then we’d be four years from now, like, ‘Oh. Oopsie.’”

Racing With Memories of Her Father

Shiffrin spoke emotionally about competing without her father, who passed away in 2020, and the silent connection she felt after crossing the finish line.

“I have wanted to and I have really been angry and resentful of people who talk about feeling their loved one with them after passing,” she said.

“And I’ve wanted to talk to my dad so many times. I’ve tried talking to him, and he doesn’t respond. That makes me mad.

“In this race, maybe it was the first time where I thought that I can just talk to him, and he doesn’t have to respond. Maybe that was a key thing – to accept the reality that I can win a medal, and he’s not here to see it.”

-Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Alison Williams/Reuters