CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — Mikaela Shiffrin wanted to win Olympic gold in women's slalom as much as she feared it.
"Everything in life that you do after you lose someone you love is like a new experience," Shiffrin said. "It's like being born again."
A feeling she's resisted every day since her father Jeff died on Feb. 2, 2020. A feeling she embraced at the bottom of la Olimpia delle Tofane Wednesday afternoon, Olympic champion once more.
After she crossed the finish line, 1.50 seconds ahead of the next closest skier — an eternity in the sport — she dropped her chest to her knees and her head in her lap. Gliding along the smooth snow at the bottom of the track in silence. Awkward, perhaps, to the average onlooker. But not to Shiffrin. This was her first Olympic gold medal without her dad there to witness it. And she was going to take the moment to sit in silence with him.
"Maybe he doesn't have to specifically answer," she said, reflecting on the last six years, "Which is hard. But it's OK."
