Mikaela Shiffrin's World Cup Crystal Globe Gets a Makeover
For this blog post, the CSM is pleased to present a featured story by Jonathan Ingraham with the Denver Gazette. Here, Jonathan covered the story behind the Museum obtaining Mikaela Shiffrin’s World Cup Slalom globe and was on site for the unveiling. He worked with Hall of Famer Chris Anthony, who spearheaded this project, to get all the details. Once broken, now fixed...sort of, this crystal is on display in Vail at the CSM. This story was featured by the Denver Gazette on October 26, 2023. Thank you to Jonathan for putting this piece together and supporting the Colorado Snowsports Museum.
COLORADO — October 26, 2023 - Mikaela Shiffrin skis really fast and claims copious podiums, but when it comes to keeping her trophies intact, she is a bull in a china shop.
While in Europe in March, Shiffrin broke one of her three 2022-23 World Cup crystal globes.
According to Eileen Shiffrin, Mikaela's mother, Shiffrin's globe in Giant Slalom "rolled off the passenger seat while buckled in for a shoot with Land Rover in the lobby of the Hermitage Hotel in Soldeu, Andorra after the World Cup Finals."
The accident can be seen in Episode 6 of Shiffrin's Youtube video-series Moving Right Along.
As Shiffrin places the three trophies one-by-one into the passenger seat of the Land Rover, the Giant Slalom trophy falls out, breaks, and pieces of crystal glass from the base plate can be seen on the ground outside the SUV.
Once broken and now sort-of-fixed, one of the most sought out trophies on the planet has received a makeover.
Chris Anthony holds Mikaela Shiffrin's 2022-23 World Cup Giant Slalom Globe Aug. 27, 2023 backstage at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail, Colorado. Shiffrin broke the base off the crystal award while driving it in her Range Rover.
After sitting in its case most of the summer, Eileen called family friend, skier and filmmaker Chris Anthony in mid-August to see if he could repair it.
"Mikaela's mother Eileen reached out to me and she said: 'Chris, do you think you can figure something out with this globe? We're either going to toss it or we'd like to donate it to the museum (Colorado Snowsports Museum) if a display can be figured out for it'," Anthony said.
Anthony chose to figure out how to repair the globe, telling Eileen, "do not throw this away," since to skiers, World Cup globes are like the Stanley Cup or Lombardi Trophy and are amazing just to have in your presence.
Because the Shiffrins were in a hurry to leave town and head back to Europe, Eileen told Anthony she'd leave it on his front porch for pick up.
Anthony first revealed the trophy from his vehicle after picking it up from Eileen, instead of on his front porch.
Chris Anthony holds up Mikaela Shiffrin's 2022-23 broken World Cup Giant Slalom globe at the 2023 Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame induction ceremony Aug. 27, 2023 in Vail, Colorado. Shiffrin broke the base off her globe while driving it around in a SUV. Photo credit: Rex Keep
"I just picked it up and I'm gonna figure out (how to restore it)," Anthony recalls saying.
Play Video
Chris Anthony opens up a case housing Mikaela Shiffrin's 2022-23 World Cup giant slalom globe trophy she broke while driving it around in her Land Rover in summer 2023.
Courtesy: Chris Anthony
"So check this out, there's something very special inside this box," Anthony said as he walks up to the case Shiffrin's globe is in. "(Inside) is one of the most sought after trophies on the planet."
Anthony pulled the loose bubble wrap away to reveal the trophy, lifted it up and said: "this is made of crystal, it is incredibly heavy and is very special, expect there is one problem, the bottom broke off in a freak accident."
A week later while hosting the 2023 Colorado Snowsports Museum's Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Anthony showed the audience the broken hardware and announced he was taking on the tedious task of figuring out how to repurpose or repair the trophy.
"Mikaela and her mom said if we can find somebody to put a new base on the bottom of this globe, she will donate it to the museum," Anthony said to the crowd.
The exposed broken part tells the story
Upon searching, Anthony found a craftsman named John Sysak at Progressive Plastics in south Denver who took on the repair of the trophy.
"Chris Anthony brought this in, this project for me to work on. It's Mikeala's World Cup slalom trophy from 2022-23 and it accidently got broken," Sysak said while testing out the base plate and hollow stem stand built with the trophy.
"Originally we were going to try and hide the broken part, so what we came up with was a black base and I machined a piece of Clearcast acrylic tube, beveled and polished the top, then machined it to put it in here (the base)."
Sysak made three passes over the base plate, cutting a 3/4-inch-deep circular hole, large enough for the Clearcast tube to stand in.
He also allowed enough space on the base plate for Shiffrin to hopefully eventually sign it.
John Sysak of Progressives Plastics slide Mikaela Shiffrin's World Cup Giant Slalom globe into the stand he created to house the broken award. Shiffrin broke the crystal globe while driving it around in her Range Rover.
Sysak said because the trophy is leaded glass, he couldn't do much with fixing the base and stem to recreate the original trophy's look so he and Anthony decided on the raised presentation, which would tell the story on how it got broken. Shiffrin's other damaged trophy, a 2017-18 World Cup Overall globe, has a crack around the base of the sphere at the connector-stem.
"Instead of hiding it we came up with this simple idea, and it just sits and floats in there," Sysak said. "I know Mikaela's a really awesome skier, she's fast, but maybe she's a bull in a China shop when it comes to glass trophies."
Anthony later found Brian Hart from Frame De Art, a shop only 10 minutes drive from Sysak's shop in Englewood, to build a plaque to be displayed with the globe.
The plaque reads:
Mikaela Shiffrin's 2022-23 World Cup Giant Slalom Globe
According to Eileen Shiffrin (Mikaela's Mother)
"It rolled off the passenger seat when being buckled in for a shoot with Land Rover in the Lobby of the Hermitage Hotel in Soldeu, Andorra after World Cup Finals."
Anthony brought the plaque to Sysak's shop on Oct. 10, reconnecting the trophy and its new stand together to tell the story.
Mikaela Shiffrin's World Cup Giant Slalom globe sits in a stand with a plaque describing how the trophy broke. "It rolled off the passenger seat when being buckled in for a shoot with the Land Rover in the Lobby of the Hermitage Hotel in Soldeu, Andora after the World Cup Finals," Eileen Shiffrin said.
Courtesy: Chris Anthony
"It's brilliant what he came up with," Anthony said. "This is awesome."
The Globe's lore at the museum
On Oct. 16, Anthony walked into the Snowsports Musuem in Vail with the same silver case he received from Eileen a couple months prior. However, this time inside the case was the newly-reborn infamous globe Shiffrin broke in the spring.
Anthony had brought in Shiffrin's World Cup globe to hand over the crystal hardware to Executive Director Jennifer Mason and the museum's team for display.
"So we're sitting here in the museum today, a very special museum, and what I have in front of me is a new edition to the exhibit here," Anthony said while a couple of museum patrons looked on as he talked about the trophy. "This is a wonderful piece he (Sysak) created that can now stand up by itself, but more specifically it can show where it broke on the bottom."
Pro skier Chris Anthony places a Mikaela Shiffrin World Cup Giant Slalom globe trophy in its display stand Monday, Oct. 17, 2023 at the Colorado Snowsports Museum in Vail, Colorado.
Jonathan Ingraham/Denver Gazette
While wiping down the newest exhibit, Anthony and Mason chatted about where the globe would reside.
The Snowsports museum has a few rows of exhibits showing off the history of skiing, snowboarding and other snow-related items in Colorado, skiers and riders who made an impact on their sports respectively — and of course a growing section of Mikaela Shiffrin hardware.
Chris Anthony wipes clean Mikaela Shiffrin's World Cup Giant Slalom globe she won during the 2022-23 ski race season. Shiffrin broke the trophy while filming a car commercial in Andorra in March 2023 and Anthony took on the task of repurposing the broken trophy and have it displayed at the Colorado Snowsports Museum in Vail, Colorado.
Anthony and Mason unscrewed the bolts from the plexiglass pane in front of where Shiffrin's 2017-18 World Cup globe sits on display.
Anthony jokingly said the pane weighed nearly as much as Shiffrin's globe while he delicately removed the seven-foot-tall piece of plexiglass. He and Mason the began to reorganize the display for its newest member, making a spot next to her 2017-18 globe and 87 World Cup wins hat.
Pro skier Chris Anthony, front, and Colorado Snowsports Museum Executive Director Jennifer Mason, open up a display case to add a new edition to the exhibit, a 2022-23 World Cup globe trophy donated by Mikaela Shiffrin after the ski racer broke it while filming a car commercial in Andorra in March 2023.
Anthony then placed the new globe into its stand. It was a magical moment for the two as they smiled and set the pane back in place.
Pro skier Chris Anthony places in a display case a new edition to the exhibit, a 2022-23 World Cup globe trophy donated by Mikaela Shiffrin after the ski racer broke it while filming a car commercial in Andorra in March 2023.
The museum now has three World Cup globes. Former U.S. Ski Team racer Phil Mahre donated his 1981 World Cup Overall globe to the museum in 2008 and it sits to the right of Shiffrin's two globes.
"It is so awesome that Mikaela gifted the globe to the Snowsports museum," Mason said after the display case was closed up. "The back story of how it broke is so fun! As our hometown hero, it is so incredible that we have these precious artifacts of Mikaela's in the museum."
The CSM is grateful to share this special artifact with the public and would like to express our gratitude to Chris Anthony for spearheading this project. We can't thank Chris enough for all his hard work in making this display happen - from the initial moment Eileen reached out to him to even installing the globe! This new artifact is a very welcome and special addition to our collection. Thank you, Chris.
Mikaela Shiffrin's 2022-23 World Cup Giant Slalom globe, left, one that broke while she was filming a car commercial in Andorra in March 2023, sits next to the a cracked 2017-18 World Cup Overall globe in a display case at the Colorado Snowsports Museum in Vail, Colorado.
About Jonathan Ingraham:
Jonathan Ingraham has had an affinity for skiing and journalism since he was 6-years-old, first learning to ski at Loveland Valley with his dad during the winter of 1985-86 and then in 1990, picking up photography by photographing with a Canon AE-1 film camera. Following his passion for skiing and journalism, Jonathan earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from Metro State University in 2011 and joined the Denver Gazette in 2022 to share unique skiing, snowboarding and snow stories to all.
About the Colorado Snowsports Museum and Hall of Fame:
Founded in 1975 and located in Vail, Colorado, our mission is to celebrate Colorado snow sports by telling stories that educate and inspire others to seek adventure. The priceless artifacts we collect and display tell the story of the birth, rise and explosion of skiing and snowboarding in Colorado. The Museum features displays including Climb to Glory about the 10th Mountain Division, Vail’s DNA, The Colorado Snowboard Archive, and The Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame, among many others. Learn more and consider supporting the Museum by becoming a member: www.snowsportsmuseum.org.
Media Contact:
Jen Mason | Dana Mathios
jen@snowsportsmuseum.org | dana@snowsportsmuseum.org
(970) 476-1876