Mikaela Shiffrin Thoughts

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

Watching Mikaela miss a gate out of her second event this evening, I immediately thought about the similarities with Dan Jansen's 1988 speed skating falls.  Mikaela was this year's favorite to win golds in both the Giant Slalom and the Slalom and fell out of both.  In 1988, Dan was favored to win both the 500 and 1000 meter races and fell in both.  

Dan's sister had died earlier in the day of his 500 race, so it is thought that it was contributing factor.  After today's race, Shiffrin stated, "It makes me second guess like the last 15 years, everything I thought I knew about my own skiing and slalom and racing mentality.  Just processing a lot, for sure."

I hope she is able to gather herself and race in the remaining races on her schedule in Beijing.  

[+ MysticMenace]

Mikaela and her mother will be refusing media interviews in the foreseeable future, so that's probably a good first step for her to clear her mind and focus on super g.

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

She had a nice interview on NBC after her Super G run.