By Suramya Kaushik
(Reuters) -World Cup Finals podium finishes for American skiers Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin underlined their enduring standards and gave their country a real lift ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics, according to Sophie Goldschmidt, CEO of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association.
Vonn, 40, announced her comeback in November after retiring in 2019 and returned to the podium for the first time since then with a second-place finish in the super-G at the World Cup Finals in Sun Valley this month.
“It was a fantastic way for her to end the season. I knew she had it in her, and she came back really in a strong way at the beginning of the season,” Goldschmidt told Reuters.
“She is one of the great icons across all of women’s sports. And to be doing at 40, with a lot of naysayers, a lot of people were questioning it. It was clear to see that she could get back to the top, but she’d been out for over six years.”
Shiffrin, Olympic gold medallist at the 2014 Sochi and 2018 Pyeongchang Games, wrapped up her injury-marred season by winning the slalom on Thursday for a record-extending 101st career World Cup victory.
The 30-year-old, who missed two months of the season recovering from a fall in November, secured her 64th career World Cup slalom triumph.
“The great, the goat, the most winning alpine skier of all times, male or female, Michaela Shiffrin likes to talk about resetting goals rather than breaking them,” Goldschmidt said.
“She’s resetting them continually and is just the ultimate role model on and off the snow. The fact she’s won in so many disciplines, the only athlete actually to ever win in all six disciplines and still only 30.”
Goldschmidt said the U.S. women’s Olympic team was looking strong in many events.
“Jessie Diggins is the best cross-country skier in the world, the only non-Scandinavian to ever achieve that feat. She has now done that three times, which is quite incredible. We’ve got Chloe Kim and Maddie Mastro dominating snowboard half pipes,” she added.
The battle for places in the team for the Milano Cortina Games is fierce.
“It’s competitive because for an Olympic team you can only have four athletes in each discipline, which isn’t the case in the World Cup. You can take whoever qualifies,” Goldschmidt said.
(Reporting by Suramya Kaushik in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
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