Mikaela Shiffrin uses Sofia Goggia's downhill skis in combined event: "Fly Mika, you can"
Shiffrin shares the same ski manufacturer with the Italian, who left her a note that moved her to tears before the start of the downhill run.
Alpine Skiing
Mikaela Shiffrin revealed a curious anecdote behind her strong performance in the downhill run of the women's alpine combined event at Beijing 2022.
As previously suggested by ski legend Lindsey Vonn on the U.S. television, the American used a pair of skis borrowed from fellow Olympic champion Sofia Goggia, who recently earned silver in the Olympic downhill after recovering from an injury.
As admitted by Shiffrin at the finish line on Thursday (17 February), the Italian left her a sticky note on the skis saying: "FLY MIKA, YOU CAN"
"They are the pair of skis she’s currently competing and training on," the 26-year-old said on NBC.
"She didn’t need them because she wasn’t competing here so I was able to try them yesterday. Then I was able to ski on them today. She actually wrote a small message on them on a sticky note, when I saw it in the start I almost started crying… It was just like, ‘You can fly on these skis’, or something like that.
She then added: "One thing you can be sure about is Sofi is winning, she has incredible skis, her serviceman is doing an amazing job, but she wins races also because of her skills, so they are just the perfect team. I’m thankful I was able to get a feeling on those, just try to fly as best as I could!"
Shiffrin and Goggia are sponsored by the same manufacturer, and four years ago, two-time Olympic gold medallist Shiffrin lent her skis to Ester Ledecka ahead of the Czech's gold medal run in the super G at at PyeongChang 2018.
"As a (ski) racer, when you go through your skis and you use what you want and maybe you move on to a different pair, and your skis go back to the pool. That was a little bit what happened with me and Ester back in South Korea, that she was using my skis in the super G," Shiffrin explained.
In the last few days the Colorado-born skier had been publicly supporting Goggia after her comeback.
She is now in a good position to secure her first medal at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 after finishing 0.56 seconds behind leader Christine Scheyer of Austria in the downhill run of the women's Alpine combined event on Thursday (17 February).
The top downhill finishers will start first in the slalom race, scheduled at 14:00 local time (22:00 in LA), where the medals will be decided. Shiffrin's coach Mike Day will set the course.
Mikaela Shiffrin Schedule - Women's combined at Beijing 2022- 17 February
Women's Alpine Combined Downhill
10:30 - 12:00 (Beijing time)
Women's Alpine Combined Slalom - medal event
14:00 - 15:19 (Beijing time)
Where to watch Mikaela Shiffrin skiing at these Winter Olympic Games
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