Alpine skiing-Shiffrin says past Olympic experiences will help her in Beijing
Two-times Olympic alpine skiing champion Mikaela Shiffrin
said she will be more comfortable with the weight of expectation on her
shoulders at next year's Beijing Olympics.
The 26-year-old slalom specialist went to Pyeongchang 2018
tipped as a potential gold medallist in multiple events but ended up with only
the giant slalom title.
It will be her third Games having burst on to the scene at
the Sochi Olympics where she stormed to slalom gold, and the American said she
hopes to take previous, very different, experiences into Beijing.
"It's changed over the years," Shiffrin, speaking
to Eurosport's Winter Pass show, said when asked what the Olympics meant to
her. "When I first started, my first Olympics... of course I wanted a gold
medal.
"I thought that was possible. I didn't really see how
big it could be if that happened until after.
"Then going into the second Olympics, in South Korea, I
had a much better understanding of how it works as an athlete when you win
gold, how that can change your career and how much more attention you get...
"But also more expectations and pressure from a lot of
people who don't necessarily pay attention to your sport outside of the
Olympics."
Shiffrin said the hype at Pyeongchang made her
uncomfortable.
"It's a lot more pressure to be there. So, I felt that
in the second Olympics, and this time around it's going to be a mix," she
said.
Shiffrin has won 45 World Cup slalom races, one behind the
record for a single discipline owned by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark (giant
slalom).
Having been beaten by Slovakia's Petra Vlhova in two slalom
races in Levi, Finland, last weekend, Shiffrin will have another chance to
equal Stenmark in Killington this weekend.
"It's a home race and I want to do well and have a good
record there. There's some expectations, some pressure, but it's always
exciting to race in Killington," Shiffrin said.
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