It has been nearly a year – 300 days, to be exact – since Mikaela Shiffrin was last in a start gate, and to say her world has undergone a seismic shift would be an understatement.
Her beloved father, Jeff, died unexpectedly Feb. 2, leaving her awash in a grief so overwhelming she isn’t sure it will ever fully lift. A month later, the COVID-19 pandemic brought life in Europe and the United States to a halt, ending both the World Cup season and any sense of normalcy.
As Shiffrin prepares to return to the World Cup circuit with Saturday’s slalom race in Levi, Finland, she’s still trying to figure out how to navigate her new world, while finding comfort in what’s left of her old one.