Ingemar Stenmark in awe of 'fantastic' Mikaela Shiffrin: 'She's writing her own beautiful story'
The Swedish skiing legend shares his admiration for the fellow double Olympic champion, who's just one win away from his World Cup all-time wins record: "She deserves all my admiration," he said.
Alpine Skiing
With 86 wins to his name Ingemar Stenmark is still the most successful alpine skier in World Cup history but, as Mikaela Shiffrin approaches his record, the Swedish legend can’t hide all his admiration for the Team USA superstar:
“She’s so strong that she doesn’t need to be at 100% to win a race. She’s very good at managing her talent,” the 66-year-old Swede told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport.
“She’s a fantastic skier and she doesn’t remind me of anyone from the past because she’s writing her own new beautiful story,” he continued.
Asked about the secret of her success, the man from Tärnaby has no doubts: “Simple: her love for skiing. That’s something you have within you, it helps you make things easier. It’s a feeling that I know, it had motivated me when I was skiing. It makes you feel at ease in any circumstances.”
Stenmark dominated the sport in the ‘70s and ‘80s winning three overall titles and 16 globes while competing mainly in slalom and giant slalom. Shiffrin is a more versatile skier and she is the first one to win races in all of the six modern disciplines (GS, slalom, combined, super G, downhill, parallel).
“She’s much better than I was, you cannot compare,” the Lake Placid 1980 two-time gold medallist candidly told Associated Press recently.
Shiffrin possesses the whole package according to the skiing great: “She has good physical strength, she has a good technique, strong head. I think it’s the combination of everything makes her so good,” he added in his interview with AP.
Ingemar Stenmark: I am not sad about losing my record
Stenmark, a specialist in the technical disciplines, is particularly impressed by Shiffrin’s prowess in speed events.
“She’s very good, while I carefully avoided those races. I couldn’t feel at ease. Downhill needs to grow on you when you are a kid. Once I tried it in training in Val Senales (Italy) and I woke up at the hospital…I didn’t have the inner motivation,” he confessed to Gazzetta.
“Mikaela already won in Super G and downhill, she’s a complete skier, an all-rounder. With maturity it’s normal that she starts expressing her full potential in speed. Her boyfriend (Aleksander Aamodt) Kilde is a master of those disciplines and can help her improve further.”
Stenmark, who needed less races than Shiffrin to achieve 86 wins (he did it from 230 starts against Shiffrin’s 244), said he doesn’t feel sad at all about losing his record.
“Four years ago I predicted Mikaela would win 100 races and you can tell I was right. Times have changed and rightly so. I could only race four disciplines: slalom, giant slalom, downhill and combined, which was different from the current format. Super G came later. The parallel slalom is something totally different. Now there are more options and she can perform in every discipline.”
"I don’t know her personally, but she has a beautiful smile and seems a nice person. She deserves all my admiration" Ingemaar Stenmark on Mikaela Shiffrin
Ingemar Stenmark and Mikaela Shiffrin: Two very different personalities
Both dominant in competition, off the pistes Stenmark and Shiffrin couldn’t be more different.
“Mikaela has her own personality, she’s strong and open. I used to keep everything inside myself because I grew up that way, I was used to the silence in Tarnaby,” the Swede said.
While he was really shy and shunned the media attention, the Team USA superstar is not afraid of sharing her feelings:
“That’s the right thing to do and I am happy for her,” Stenmark commented.
“She grew up in a different environment, compared to where I lived. I struggled to be amongst journalists, it still happens now. Last time I went to an event, it was at the Worlds in Are in 2019 I felt literally overwhelmed and I decided that I would never go again. This is how I am, I’m sorry.”
For this reason he won’t be attending the World Cup event where Shiffrin could break his record: "But I will, of course, watch on TV."
The newly crowned five-time big crystal ball winner will turn soon 28: can she compete until 33 like Stenmark did?
“A lot will depend on the love that’s now motivating her,” the Swede said.
“My passion started to fade in the beginning of the ‘80s, it was too soon.”