MERIBEL, France—One gold. Two silvers. And three gates away from another gold medal that slipped from her grasp in a patch of soft snow.
And that just was what Mikaela Shiffrin accomplished on the slopes at the world championships.
Off the slopes, the American skier dealt with a protest from environmentalists who mistakenly thought she was using a helicopter for training—resulting in security being brought in to protect her.
The helicopter flap was followed by an even bigger distraction when Shiffrin’s longtime personal coach, Mike Day, left her abruptly in the middle of the worlds after being told that Shiffrin planned to take a new direction with her staff after the season….