Mikaela Shiffrin appeared on the Today Show on Thursday to discuss her road to the Beijing Winter Olympics, stating that she considered retiring from professional skiing following her father’s death last year.
“Dealing with the unexpected death of my dad was the most difficult thing I’ve ever survived,” she stated.
“I questioned whether it was really worth it. For a long time, I didn’t think it was worth caring about anything. It sounded like, ‘I’m not going to go ski racing again,’ since the most important aspect of being an athlete is caring about your sport. And you have to be interested in succeeding in your sport, which I was not.”
Shiffrin stated that it was difficult for her to care about anything in life at the time. Her father, Jeff, died last February at the age of 65 in an accident at their Colorado home.
“It’s been a long process to get that motivation and the feeling of caring back,” she stated. “A lot more good days than bad now, but it’s still difficult.”
Shiffrin plans to compete in five to six races in Beijing in February. On Saturday, she won the World Cup giant slalom in Soelden, Australia, making her the third skier to surpass 70 career victories.
in Thursday, Shiffrin described her win as “the first checkmark” in her path to compete in every Winter Games event.
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