Mikaela Shiffrin, who at 26 is perhaps the best alpine skier in American history, already has a few lifetimes worth of memorable wins under her belt as she heads into the Winter Olympics. But it is a loss she witnessed when she was a child that still sticks with her.
When she was 6 years old, the US hosted the winter games in Salt Lake City, where all-time great men’s skier Bode Miller already had two silver medals and was cruising towards a third in the slalom. All he needed was to complete a second attempt with a passable run to rack up a medal. Instead, the New Hampshire native went all guns blazing in an all-out play for gold, only to make an error on the course and lose his shot at a third podium. Miller hiked back up the mountain to finish out his run.
