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Alpine Skiing legend Mikaela Shiffrin has opened up on her mental health journey, claiming that if there's one thing the whole world can relate to, it's ‘struggle’.
While the American is one of the greatest ever athletes in her chosen sport, she has had her share of struggles as well. Shiffrin lost her father on February 2, 2020 in a terrifying accident, and according to her mom Eileen Shiffrin, she was ‘devastated’ by the huge loss.
"She was so devastated. She couldn't stop crying", Eileen told NBC Sports.
Shiffrin had even stopped eating after the tragedy. She later took a long break from the sport before eventually returning a few weeks before Winter Olympics 2022.
However, contrary to everyone’s expectations, Mikaela Shiffrin ended the campaign without a medal. She missed out on all her individual events, and in the team event, USA lost to Norway. The 29-year-old later termed the campaign a ‘disappointing’ one.
Now, Shiffrin has risen above the challenges. She has spoken out on the matter on numerous occasions, and in a recent interview with Outside Watch, she claimed that talking about it had become an important part of her life.
I think I started talking about mental health because it's become so thoroughly part of my life in the past few years after my dad passed and then the Olympic challenges", she expressed.
The 2x Olympic Champion explained the importance of talking about those issues, stating that everyone in the world struggles at some point in their lives.
It's like the more you talk about it the more you are asked to talk about it and that can be a difficult thing to control and it's important not to shy away from talking about failure and struggle because you are not the only person going through it. It's the one thing in life that we can all relate on more than anything else in the world,we can all relate to struggle,", Shiffrin added.
Mikaela Shiffrin misses out on 6th overall crystal globe
Mikaela Shiffrin dominated the early stages of the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup 2023-24 . She led the women's overall, slalom, and giant slalom standings for the most part of the season.
However, it all turned haywire after she suffered an injury in Italy during a downhill race. Shiffrin had to undergo a month-long rehabilitation, missing more than 10 races in the process which ruined her chances of winning a record-tying 6th overall World Cup.
However, the winningest World Cup skier of all time was still able to secure the slalom globe. It marked her 8th in the discipline.
