Mikaela Shiffrin is the best women’s skier in the world, a designation she strengthened with her gold and silver medals at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang. To get to this point, Shiffrin began skiing when she was two, under the guidance of her parents Jeff, an anesthesiologist, and Eileen, a former intensive care nurse, who were both strong skiers in their own right. They carefully drilled Mikaela, 22 and older brother Taylor, on 25, on the fine points of ski racing technique.
During an interview at the Shiffrin home in Avon, Colorado, near Vail, this fall, Shiffrin talked about how Eileen, who’s now her head coach, would rely on household wares to instruct her daughter. What kind of tips did she give? Mikaela herself grabbed a mop and explained, which you can see in the video below.
“It’s an example of my ability to visualize things,” Shiffrin says of how the lessons helped her. “And both of my parents taught me that.”
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So save your money on ski lessons. Learn from the best skier in the world, and her blue mop.
