This sounds like the beginning of the end of Mikaela's racing days.

[plugboots]

Just as long as you don't post garbage stats like the ones football announcers love to use to fill dead air time (ie most of a football game.) I don't want to read "most 2nd place finishes in first 37 SG starts".

They're always the absolute best at something.
"He's got the quickest first step of any linebacker in the NFC East".

Zombli posted some legit shit.

[waxman]

spoken like a man who has never competed in a sport at a professional level

spoken like a fan who thinks she is the GOAT and barring serious injuries could change the way people think of the sport...as in actually have non-skiers pay attention

[old goat]

Well, let’s see:

Most wins in a season by any racer
Most wins in a single calendar year by any racer
Youngest Olympic SL champion
Youngest to 50 WC wins, male or female
Four consecutive SL world championships, never been done before
Only racer to win in all six disciplines, male or female (but parallel is new, SG is only since ‘85?)
Most SL wins, male or female
Most prize money in a single season
Highest average points in a season
Highest average points in career
Out of only ten women who have ever won ten or more times in a single season, Shiffrin is three of them.

You mean those kinds of stats?

Nah, all of those are legit, except maybe youngest to 50 and most wins in a calendar year. Those are a little contrived.

[ZomblibulaX]

I wish I had a “youngest American to place third on the podium without placing first while still maintaining a greater than fifty point overall lead over the person that came in second without a DNF” but I’m tapped out.

Either way, I hope she still races, and finds her focus again, but she has more than cemented her legacy as one of the greatest skiers of all time.

Now Hirscher on the other hand... I’m still waiting for him to get bored with Moto GP and come back for a ninth overall globe.

[skiJ]

spoken like a fan who thinks she is the GOAT and barring serious injuries could change the way people think of the sport...as in actually have non-skiers pay attention

You make a valid point waxman - although I believe the expectation that anyone is going to make non-skiers care about ski racing is a reach- but

it did prompt me to look back at the WorldCup results from the past decade and consider the career of Marcel Hirscher.
it is hard to argue with the success he had...

it also gave me a chance to review the time when LV dominated the women's circuit
( and I won't argue with anyone who claims Vonn's results are as or more remarkable than MS's more recent success ) ...

anyway.
Another season is underway -
I hope those of you who follow racing enjoy it ... skiJ

[waxman]

You make a valid point waxman - although I believe the expectation that anyone is going to make non-skiers care about ski racing is a reach- but

it did prompt me to look back at the WorldCup results from the past decade and consider the career of Marcel Hircher.
it is hard to argue with the success he had...

it also gave me a chance to review the time when LV dominated the women's circuit
( and I won't argue with anyone who claims Vonn's results are as or more remarkable than MS's more recent success ) ...

anyway.
Another season is underway -
I hope those of you who follow racing enjoy it ... skiJ

I'll give you Hirscher except for the good of the sport aside from the Austrian and traditional ski fan no one cares about a rather introverted male skier. MS appeals to a broader base of possible fans IMHO.
Using baseball stats is stupid (again IMHO). Every World Cup win is basically a home run. Any podium is a hit.

[skiJ]

at the risk of perpetuating thread drift,
I was stunned to see Hirscher had won eight straight Overall WCs --

decades ago, when it looked like a Swede might have a run like that they changed the rules
( If they had not changed the rules, I wonder how long Ingemar might have reigned
( Phil was skiing so well in 1982 that he blew-up at the WorldChampionships ! !! )

in the 1980s and early '90s, one really could not contend for the Overall without Combined results )


as far as broad appeal,
it seems to me like that was Much more Vonn's goal -
If Mikaela finds a cause to champion - but Jeff's Fund is to finance ski racers, so that scope is pretty narrow...
her presence on social media seems to be more a generational matter than brand support - I think.
There is much about her persona that looks like MS would be very happy with a less prominent public profile - And yet

when I read through Debbie Armstong's bio last night, I thought of the hundreds of lives she has touched
( education And coaching are like that ) -

A whole bunch of people above have said,
Do what makes you happy.
Love the life you live...

it has been fun watching Mikaela Shiffrin race !
If she never races again, that's okay ! !!

Thanks... for the memories
( and the thrills ! !! ) skiJ