{"id":2447935,"date":"2019-08-23T22:32:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-24T04:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/mikaela-shiffrin-talks-2019-20-cycling-and-doughnuts\/"},"modified":"2019-08-23T22:32:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-24T04:32:00","slug":"mikaela-shiffrin-talks-2019-20-ski-season-cycling-and-doughnuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/mikaela-shiffrin-talks-2019-20-ski-season-cycling-and-doughnuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Mikaela Shiffrin talks 2019-20 ski season, cycling and doughnuts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
World Cup champion Mikaela Shiffrin speaks at the Westin Riverfront Resort and Spa in Avon on Wednesday in a Q-and-A with Anita Graham, of the VF Foundation, the main sponsor of this week’s Colorado Classic.<\/strong>
Chris Freud\/Vail Daily<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

AVON \u2014 How in the wide world of sports does Mikaela Shiffrin follow up a record-obliterating 2018-19 World Cup season with 17 wins on tour \u2014 19, if one includes FIS Alpine World Ski Championships golds in super-G and slalom \u2014 a career-high in points (2,184) and four crystal globes, including her third straight overall title?<\/p>\n

Maybe, you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast season was almost a surprise, some of those super-G wins, world championship super-G, especially,\u201d Shiffrin said Wednesday at the Westin Riverfront Resort and Spa in Avon. \u201cI definitely realized how much I believed in myself, stepping into some of the starting gates just knowing that I could win if I really skied my heart out, and I did. I\u2019m going to try to keep the same mentality this year. It\u2019s the same thing. I still don\u2019t expect anything. I\u2019m trying to keep low expectations and high standards. It worked. It was so much more enjoyable for me to ski and, I think, it was more enjoyable for people to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

So as Shiffrin took a break from what she describes as her summer\/fall on-snow training \u2014 she was in Argentina earlier this week and hits snow again next week \u2014 to promote the Colorado Classic, presented by VF Corp., she sounded a bit like she will be dialing down her expectations for 2019-20.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a way, I don\u2019t know if there is anything to follow up,\u201d Shiffrin said. \u201cIt was an incredible season. I\u2019m really, really proud of it, me and my entire team were so proud of everything we accomplished last season. It\u2019s kind of continuing to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

More speed?<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly bedecked in an Adidas T-shirt and off-white sneakers \u2014 some of the goodies from her new deal \u2014 and blue jeans, Shiffrin spoke to Colorado Classic racers, patrons and local dignitaries Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n

While giving \u201cmad respect\u201d to the women\u2019s racers, who took on the second stage of the Colorado Classic cycling race Friday in Avon and Beaver Creek, Shiffrin isn\u2019t about to take up competitive cycling.<\/p>\n

\u201cRoad rash, I never signed up for that,\u201d she joked.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also gearing up for a World Cup season, starting with the traditional Soelden, Austria, giant slalom Oct. 26. This season is the exception to the rule \u2014 the one year out of every four when there are no world championships or Olympics.<\/p>\n

With a little more space on the calendar, particularly in late-January and February \u2014 when speed dominates a stretch of 10 of 12 World Cup events \u2014 Shiffrin dropped a hint that she may be inclined to expand her repertoire.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are speed races that I am considering, at least that I wouldn\u2019t have otherwise if it were as busy as it has been,\u201d Shiffrin said. \u201cIn a sense, the schedule is not easier but makes it possible to explore some different things. For sure, it\u2019s a good year to push myself a little bit more, not too much but just see what the possibilities are.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the typical Shiffrin caution, born of overdoing her schedule in the run-up to the 2018 Olympics in South Korea. She modified her schedule after that experience and started \u201conly\u201d 26 of 35 World Cup events last season. Shiffrin more than made up for it by winning 17 times and finishing in the top 10 in all of those 26 starts.<\/p>\n

Yet it does seem some more speed \u2014 aside from the regular Lake Louise, Alberta, stop in early December \u2014 could be on the table.<\/p>\n

The greatest?<\/p>\n

Shiffrin started the Q-and-A with giving a modest assessment of her place in skiing history. While to most objective observers she is already in the \u201cgreatest of all time\u201d discussion in the world of ski racing, Shiffrin acknowledged that there are those who will always think Ingemar Stenmark or Lindsey Vonn is the GOAT.<\/p>\n

Shiffrin acknowledged, \u201cOn paper, I\u2019m the best in the world right now. But what\u2019s nice about sports is that paper resets every year. The work doesn\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

She knows that starting in Soelden, the world will be coming for her. Shiffrin will counter with her own standard \u2014 racing herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cSki racing, of course, is a competition against all the competitors,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it\u2019s more of a competition against the clock. It\u2019s about getting faster every day. \u2026 I find that so intriguing, and within the sport, I can explore my creativity, how to be faster, and I really, really like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a youngster, she found that creativity in watching Bode Miller and working with her parents, Jeff and Eileen, on the slopes, and she hopes that she can pass that enthusiasm for ski racing on to others.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, she treasures her passions off the slopes or away from training, be they reading, playing the piano\/singing or the occasional doughnut.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no other passions. Doughnuts are the only thing in the world,\u201d Shiffrin joked. \u201cJust kidding. That\u2019s going to be the headline on the newspaper.\u201d<\/p>\n

cfreud@vaildaily.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

World Cup champion Mikaela Shiffrin speaks at the Westin Riverfront Resort and Spa in Avon on Wednesday in a Q-and-A with Anita Graham, of the VF Foundation, the main sponsor of this week’s Colorado Classic.Chris Freud\/Vail Daily AVON \u2014 How in the wide world of sports does Mikaela Shiffrin follow up a record-obliterating 2018-19 World […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2447935","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-25 15:06:24","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2447935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447935\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2447935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2447935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2447935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}