geoff: American skier Mikaela
shiffrin is making history.
She now holds more world cup
wins than any female alpine
skier.
She broke that record today
after winning the giant slalom
in Italy.
William brangham looks at her
career and impact.
William: A teenage prodigy who
first burst on the scene more
than a decade ago, Mikaela
shiffrin is a two-time olympic
gold medalist and six time world
champion.
But for many, their last
memories of her came during the
beijing olympics, where she
failed to medal and sometimes
even finish her events.
Then today, she notched her
seventh world cup win in her
last 11 races with yet another
blazing run down the mountain.
That win earns shiffrin the
crown with 83 world cup titles,
the most for any woman -- she
just passed Lynsey vonn -- and
ranks her second amongst all
skiers.
I'm joined again by Christine
Brennan sportswriter and
, columnist for usa today.
So good to see you in person,
welcome back.
Christine: Great to be here.
William: For those people who
last focused on Mikaela shiffrin
during the beijing olympics when
she really struggled, can you
remind us overall of her
remarkable achievements?
Christine: You alluded to it,
how she burst on the scene as a
teenager, winning national
titles and world cup's quicker
than anyone we've ever seen.
Incredible staying power in a
sport where there is often
injury.
Obviously it is on edge, as you
are watching, your heart is in
your throat as you watch anyone
try to ski.
Time and again she has been able
to win world cup races.
Two olympic gold medals and a
silver medal.
Then came beijing and that was
going to be the crowning
achievement, potentially winning
five metals, who knew how money
gold.
Instead none as she skied off
the course or had a
disappointing after
disappointed.
The way she met that and talked
about it, the dignity, the
honesty of how difficult it was.
We had to know there was more to
come because she was still
incredibly young, 27, she will
be 28 in March.
Here is the next chapter, and it
is this season and she says
she's going all the way to the
2026 winter olympics.
It's not just about the
olympics, even though that is
what we as mere mortals focus
on.
There's so much more to a skies
'S career.
William: A lot of athletes have
been open about their struggles
with adversity.
How did Mikaela shiffrin deal
with this?
She had a lot of setbacks
leading up to beijing.
Christine: Without a doubt, she
had covid and was in isolation
for 10 days, missing a key part
of her training.
Her dad and her mom were both
skiers and got her into the
sport, decided how to train her,
don't worry about winning little
ribbons are racist, you will
stay on the mountain and be a
kid and we will learn this way.
Her dad suddenly passed away
after an accident, a fall in
2020.
She was devastated.
And then of course beijing
itself.
The poor performance after poor
performance.
She was incredibly honest, as
honest as anyone I've seen.
Most layers might slam their
helmet, walkout.
She would do interview after
interview, a class act.
I'm sure people saw one or two
of those.
William: Confronted this head
on.
Christine: Absolutely.
She talked about how devastated
she was, how she thought she
wouldn't get over it, and yet
she was back for the next race.
I think the honesty, humility,
the human side of the greatest
women's skier ever and soon to
be the greatest skier of
all-time, male or female, I
think again that had people
saying wait a minute, this is
someone you can cheer for not
just on the mountain but as a
human being.
William: I saw her mom accredit
the beijing failure in a way for
helping to light the fire under
her that got her to where she is
now.
She is now the top female skier
but she is very close to being
the top skier overall.
What is the next goal?
Christine: She's had 83 world
cup wins and 86 is the best of
any human beings.
That is a skier from Sweden, he
was at.
Only three more, and she can do
that in the next few days, she
is a technical skier, much more
her forte than downhill or
speed, although she's won
those in the past.
She has one more giant slalom
and two slalom races in the next
few days, so she could get to 86
by the end of the weekend, and
the rest of the season to pass
him.
If she does, it will be one of
those conversations I think we
like to have in the country
about the boys versus the girls,
who was the best?
We had this with Serena Williams
a few months ago when she was
retiring in September.
I think we will have this again
and it will be easy to say it is
a slamdunk.
The best skier ever will be
Mikaela shiffrin.
William: So great, I heard that
Swedish skier saying he thought
she could win 100 of these.
Christine: Oh yes, it will be
interesting to see where she
gets, but we will see a lot more
from her, and I bet the olympic
performance in 2026 will be
different from 2022.
William: Christine, always great
to see you, thank you.
Christine: William, thank you.