Mikaela Shiffrin - Annual Award - Competitor of the Year 2020 & 2021
One of the most important annual celebrations of the state’s snow sports industry, the Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame induction, is on tap for Sunday, August 22 at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater. For the next several weeks leading up to the 2021 Hall of Fame Celebration, the CSM will be highlighting inductees and annual award recipients. Tickets for the event are on sale HERE.
Mikaela Shiffrin has been awarded Competitor of the Year for both 2020 and 2021 - after what was possibly the most memorable and grit-filled season of her career.
Born and raised in the Vail Valley, Mikaela is an American two-time Olympic Gold Medalist (2014, 2018) and World Cup alpine skier. She is a three-time Overall World Cup champion, a four-time world champion in slalom, and a six-time winner of the World Cup discipline title in that event.
Despite the tragic year she endured compounded with COVID setbacks, and only one-third of her normal preparation heading into the season, Mikaela still walked away with 10 podiums in 16 FIS Ski World Cup starts, including three victories, four World Championship medals and records to boot. At the 2021 FIS World Cup Finals slalom in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, Mikaela finished second—her 105th FIS World Cup podium—to secure second place in the overall slalom standings.
Mikaela Shiffrin 2020-2021 Stats:
10 podiums in 16 FIS Ski World Cup starts, including three victories (worst finish sixth)
Surpassed legend Marcel Hirscher's 67 career victories and ending the season with 69 World Cup victories—third on the all-time World Cup win list behind former teammate Lindsey Vonn (82), and Swede Ingemar Stenmark (86)
Second in the world in the giant slalom and slalom standings, and fourth in the overall standings
Leader on the World Cup circuit for average World Cup points per race (67.2 points over Swiss Lara Gut's 57.1 points in second)
Snagged her 44th career World Cup slalom victory, breaking the women's record for most wins in a single discipline (Stenmark holds the record with 46 in giant slalom)
Four world championships medals at Cortina 2021 (career-best world champs)
First skier—male or female—to win four medals at the world championships in 14 years
Tied with Sweden's Anja Paerson for the most World Championships medals by a woman in the modern era (11)
Most decorated American alpine skier in World Championships history (11 medals)
Most World Championship gold medals for American alpine skier (6 gold)
First American winner of the women’s combined since Tamara McKinney won it in 1989 at the worlds in Vail
Lara Gut-Behrami beat Mikaela Shiffrin in giant slalom by 0.02 sec, the smallest margin of victory in a giant slalom in world championship history
Source: US Ski and Snowboard and Bill Pennington