THE SHIFFRINS DISCOVERED the wedding program in
a pocket of an old tuxedo. Inside were the lyrics to a song,
one read aloud at a ceremony 25 years ago, then forgotten.
Mikaela Shiffrin—easily the most accomplished skier
of her generation; perhaps, one day, the greatest athlete
to ever f ly down a mountain—held that program and a
microphone in September. Her father, Jeff, had chosen
those words, the entirety of John Denver’s “Perhaps Love”
to capture the sentiment at his wedding to Mikaela’s
mother, Eileen. Mikaela doubted she could read it without
crying but knew she had to try.
Jeff wasn’t in the audience, which
explained the tears drip-dropping down
her cheeks. Nineteen months had passed
since the worst day, each subsequent one
defined by a duality borne from grief:
As she puts it, everything moving too
fast and everyone moving so slow. In
February 2020, Jeff died at 65 in an acci-
dent at the family home in Edwards, Colo.
Jeff was more than an anesthesiologist
and lifelong ski bum, more than a father
to Taylor and Mikaela, more than a husband to Eileen.
Jeff fixed problems. Jeff helped with training. Jeff was
the family’s real-life Siri, with an ability to deftly handle
everything from training logistics to travel plans to nights
like this one. Now, last September, as grief continued
to exact a staggering toll on the family, Taylor was get-
ting married and Mikaela was preparing for her third
Olympics, in Beijing.
Perhaps love is like a resting place
A shelter from the storm
It exists to give you comfort
Mikaela Shiffrin can trace her five-ring obsession to
the 2002 Games, in Salt Lake City. She was 6, and one
young skier, a soon-to-be-superstar named Bode Miller,
captured her attention, not only for his collecting two
silver medals but also for how he reacted when he botched
his attempt at a third. After missing a gate he hiked back
up the mountain. “Even at a young age,” Shiffrin says, “I
could relate to that.” She scribbled a goal into her diary: I
want to be the best skier in the world. She became a prodigy,
broke records and began having actual dreams of her
own Olympic moment.
Just 18, Shiffrin made the U.S. team in 2014. The magni-
tude of the Games—the size of the stage, the opportunity
at hand—didn’t fully sink in until she arrived in Sochi. She
started to envision the glorious week ahead: competing,
dominating, winning, celebrating. As she pushed through
that week, every step “felt like déjà vu,” she says, “like
I’ve already lived this.”
Shiffrin snagged gold in the slalom, becoming the
youngest-ever Olympic champion in that event. (She also
finished fifth in giant slalom.) But as her career gained
momentum—pro debut at 15, first World Cup victory
at 16, Rookie of the Year in 2012, World Cup standings
leader in ’13—her dreams changed; success only raised
expectations. She began having nightmares, crossing
the finish line in second place by a whisker, or finishing
fourth, thisclose to the medal stand.
After her father died, Shiffrin also fought through
back spasms resulting from a muscle strain. She took
time off to mourn and heal, only for COVID-19 to shut
down the season just as she returned in March 2020. Shelanguished for months, unable to get back into a groove.
Then, for two weeks last summer she spent her nights
in the same place: lying on the couch, remote in hand,
binge-watching the Tokyo Olympics.
Shiffrin identif ied with Simone Biles, who pulled out
of multiple gymnastics events after getting the twist-
ies, then spoke about the toxic bubble she competed in
and the difficulty of constantly fearing the slightest
competitive hiccup. Shiffrin had arrived at that empathy
through her second Olympics, in 2018. She planned to
compete in all f ive individual events (downhill, Super-G,
slalom, giant slalom and combined) across skiing’s two
distinct disciplines, speed and technique—the rarest,
boldest feat in the sport.
In PyeongChang, Shiffrin carried the weight of60While binge-watching last summer’s
Tokyo Olympics, Shiffrin identified with
Simone Biles, who spoke of THETOXIC
BUBBLE she^ competed in.MEET TEAM USA