“Can’t miss him any more than I already do.”

Hardly a day goes by when Mikaela Shiffrin isn't reminded of her father Jeff by a picture, a song or a moment. He died on February 2, 2020 after a tragic accident in Colorado. As she now does in an interview with the news agency AP revealed, the 26-year-old has been thinking about him nonstop ever since.

“It's not like this day, Father's Day, is really any more emotional,” emphasizes Shiffrin. “Because I can’t miss him any more than I already do every day.” The proud father, whose daughter became the best skier in the world largely thanks to his merits, maintained an extremely close relationship with the 26-year-old. He often stood on the mountain and photographed his talented daughter at work. He had to hold back his tears at their countless victories. Always with her In order to always have his father with him, a picture of a dinner together in Hawaii adorns her cell phone screensaver. She also always carries a Christmas gnome with her. It was a gift she gave him on their last Christmas together.

Mikaela and Jeff Shiffrin. © Mikaela Shiffrin

But these things can hardly ease the pain. There are days when she “just wants to be in the bedroom – with the door closed and the lights off. And not out there in this environment.” She had a day like that last winter in Zagreb when she came fourth. “People thought I was sad because I came fourth. They said, 'I'm so sorry. You'll do better next time,' says Shiffrin. The two-time Olympic champion mourned her father and not because of the result.

She, who had also thought about ending her career early, is now training harder than ever, driven by her dead father. The goal is the Olympic Games in Beijing, where she could compete in “four or five disciplines”. “I'll see how it goes when the Winter Games get closer.” She definitely doesn't want to compete just to be there, because “I have teammates who are burning for this place,” Shiffrin concludes.

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“Can’t miss him any more than I already do.”

More than a year after the tragedy, Mikaela Shiffrin's pain over the death of her father Jeff is omnipresent.

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