For the first, and likely only, time at an Olympics, Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin will compete head-to-head in Friday’s Alpine combined. It is a figurative passing of the torch, with Vonn in her last Olympics and Shiffrin poised to become the face of the U.S. ski team.
But it is so much more than that.
It’s rare we get the chance to see true greatness. I’m not talking about the best-at-the-time version that pales and becomes one dimensional when viewed through history. I mean the transcendent kind that grows in stature and becomes even more awe-inspiring as the years pass.