By Julien Pretot
PARIS, Jan 6 (Reuters) - At every Olympic Games, some athletes arrive carrying more than just competitive ambition - they bring the emotional weight of expectation from an entire sport, and for Alpine skiing that figure has long been Mikaela Shiffrin.
At the Milano Cortina Games, however, she will not carry that burden alone.
The 30-year-old American is the most successful skier in history with a record 106 World Cup victories.
Her medal count, World Cup wins and discipline-spanning
dominance place her in a league of her own. Yet statistics alone fail to explain why she shapes the Olympic conversation.
What sets Shiffrin apart is her mix of technical mastery and emotional candour. In a sport that has long celebrated stoicism, she has spoken openly about pressure, anxiety and loss, particularly following the death of her father in 2020.
That openness has changed perceptions of what greatness looks like under Olympic scrutiny, where failure is amplified.
The Olympics have never been straightforward for Shiffrin. She has two gold medals, in slalom in 2014 and giant slalom in 2018, which sit alongside eight world championship titles.
Yet the Games have also delivered disappointment, most notably at Beijing 2022 where she failed to finish her two strongest events.
Rather than erode her standing, those setbacks made her more relatable as she addressed them head-on.
This time, however, the spotlight on U.S. Alpine skiing has shifted. While Shiffrin remains the sport’s dominant competitive force and leads the overall World Cup standings, Lindsey Vonn’s return to racing has diverted attention.
Vonn’s comeback has reshaped the media landscape around the Games.
Long retired before resuming her career, Vonn once again commands attention, reviving familiar narratives around legacy and longevity, and creating a parallel storyline that eases the singular focus on Shiffrin.
For Shiffrin, that matters. Vonn previously carried the same expectations - to deliver medals, to dominate headlines and to personify American Alpine skiing on the Olympic stage. With Vonn back on the start list, that symbolic weight is no longer Shiffrin's alone.
The presence of Vonn allows Shiffrin to retreat slightly from the noise and focus on skiing.
In Cortina d’Ampezzo, she will face stern competition from Switzerland’s Camille Rast, who recently claimed back-to-back wins in giant slalom and slalom after Shiffrin opened the season with five straight slalom victories.
If Olympic greatness is defined as much by resilience as by medals, Shiffrin arrives as the complete package, and when the Games turn their gaze to Alpine skiing, they will still find the American as the central focus - but this time, with space to breathe.
(Reporting by Julien PretotEditing by Toby Davis)
