Mikaela Shiffrin makes no secret of who she is voting for in the US elections. The 29-year-old also talks openly about moments after the fall of her fiancé Aleksander Aamodt Kilde.
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- Mikaela Shiffrin spoke about the US elections in an interview. She said she wanted to help encourage young people in the USA to vote.
- The 29-year-old also talks about the fall of Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, which would have changed her life. Even days after the operation in January, Kilde still panicked and "fainted several times".
- The new ski season starts for Shiffrin on October 26 at the giant slalom in Sölden. She is aiming for her 100th World Cup victory this winter.
The alpine ski season starts in Sölden in two weeks' time. Mikaela Shiffrin is targeting her 100th World Cup victory at the same time as the starting signal. "Maybe the thought of it is even a bit scary," says Shiffrin to theTagesAnzeigernewspaper about the 100 mark.
Shiffrin is currently on 97 World Cup victories. She is aware: "100 victories would be a monumental mark in skiing." But she doesn't care about the record. For her, it's about being able to make a difference, "to appeal to people all over the world and attract lots of young people to skiing".
Shiffrin will miss the downhill victories in the upcoming season. She has decided not to compete in the discipline in which she was injured last January. Shiffrin crashed in the downhill in Cortina and only returned to her skis in March. She was no longer able to win the overall World Cup.
Shiffrin says she has come to terms with the fall in Cortina: "Now I feel grateful on the one hand because I'm healthy - I'm experiencing first-hand what a fall can do."
"Alex wasn't sure if his leg was still attached"
With this statement, Shiffrin is alluding to the fall of her fiancé Aleksander Aamodt Kilde. The Norwegian had a serious fall during the downhill in Wengen. "That crash changed my life," says Shiffrin.
The five-time overall World Cup winner talks about an experience after the incident in Wengen. "A few hours after Alex's fall, I was with him in hospital, he had just had surgery on his leg," says Shiffrin. Kilde woke up, Shiffrin breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought: Okay, it's going to be okay now (...). But then everything got worse."
Kilde had "incredible pain in his shoulder" and was totally scared because of his legs. "Alex was afraid to look down because he wasn't sure if his leg was still attached at all." Shiffrin states: "I had never seen him like that before." He also panicked a few days after the operation and "fainted several times".
Shiffrin dreams of a moment
Nine months have now passed since the fall. "Alex still has a long way to go. But I'm very proud of him." Kilde has good days, but also less good days. Shiffrin dreams of the moment when she sees her fiancé standing in the starting gate again: "He sets off and I just think: Holy shit, he's so fast. I hope I and everyone else can experience that again."
Will Kilde's crash have an impact on Shiffrin's riding style? "I was always very risk-conscious on the road." But since then, she has thought more about when it makes sense to start and when not.
Trump or Harris?
If everything goes according to plan, Shiffrin will be competing in the giant slalom in Sölden on October 26, which she has won twice so far.
Ten days later, the presidential elections will take place in the USA. Shiffrin wants to help encourage young people to vote. "I do believe that people care about what I say." And what does she say about the US elections - Trump or Harris? "Of the candidates, I prefer the female solution," says Shiffrin.
