Shiffrin won a record 17 races this season on the World Cup tour and helps create buzz among young fansGETTY IMAGES
Mikaela Shiffrin is "accepting a new role ... as the most visible American skier" following the retirement of Lindsey Vonn, according to Hayden Bird of the BOSTON GLOBE. Shiffrin, who won a record 17 races this season on the World Cup tour, made an appearance on Saturday at the U.S. Alpine National Championships in New Hampshire, and her "mere presence at the finish line created a buzz." There were "flocks of junior skiers clambering for a photo, an autograph, or simply a quick word with the undoubted leader of the U.S. team." Shiffrin said, "I do feel some obligation to find whatever (leadership) role I’m supposed to play in the grand scheme of things." Shiffrin took a recent media tour of various late-night shows, including a hit on NBC's "The Tonight Show" on Friday, and she said, "It’s really exciting that people are showing interest, especially because it wasn’t an Olympic season. I’ve had more interest and more appearances and media this year than I did last year after winning two (Olympic) medals. To me, helping progress this sport, and that people are taking notice, that’s super cool" (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/24). In Vail, Chris Freud wrote that in a non-Olympic year, the U.S. media is "getting a slight glimpse that Shiffrin's pretty good at this skiing thing" (VAIL DAILY, 3/23).
CROSSOVER APPEAL: In N.Y., Bill Pennington wrote Shiffrin is the "unquestioned face of American ski racing" and has a "chance to enlarge the crossover celebrity status that Vonn achieved." She has spent recent months "energetically conducting news interviews, stoking her social media platforms and bolstering her many notable commercial sponsors, who see her as the bridge to a younger generation of skiers" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/23). The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Rachel Bachman notes on the World Cup tour, the "potential loss of two stars could make Shiffrin the most marketable skier in the world." Austrian alpine skier Marcel Hirscher has "talked about the possibility of retirement," while Vonn's retirement leaves a "celebrity void in the sport." Shiffrin's star is "more modest and shines mostly at altitude." She said that she "gained more Instagram followers this season, when she had superior results," than she did around the '18 Pyeongchang Games, when skiing "typically gets far more attention in the U.S." (WSJ.com, 3/25). The AP's Melissa Murphy noted Shiffrin "enjoys relative anonymity" in the U.S. But that "may change with the retirement of Vonn and given Shiffrin's record wins, prize money and endorsements." She is "featured in a TV commercial" for Italian food company Barilla with Roger Federer (AP, 3/24).
