Mikaela Shiffrin thinks about her dad often in a season marked by serious crash, memorable milestone

SUN VALLEY, Idaho (AP) - Mikaela Shiffrin was attending a celebration party at the World Cup finals when the band began playing the Paul Simon song "You Can Call Me Al."

The tears suddenly began to form. That was her dad's favorite tune.

These days, the American ski racing standout has been thinking a lot about her father, Jeff Shiffrin. He died five years ago in a home accident.

Her father helped nurture her love of skiing. He offered tips and suggestions, usually taking in her races off to the side and with a camera dangling from a strap around his neck.

Mikaela Shiffrin can't help wonder what he would've thought of her recently earning World Cup win No. 100.

"I just wish," she said, "I could ask him."

This season has been so difficult for Shiffrin, a painful season that winds down Thursday after her slalom race at the World Cup finals. The two-time Olympic champion continues to work her way back from a crash during the giant slalom in Killington, Vermont, in November. She suffered a deep puncture wound that caused severe trauma to her oblique muscles. It caused emotional trauma, too, leaving her with post-traumatic stress disorder in the GS.

Next season, there's the pressure of the Milan-Cortina Olympics. Shiffrin struggled at the 2022 Beijing Games and didn’t medal over five individual events.

Dad could've been a huge help in managing all of these emotions.

Jeff Shiffrin died at age 65 on Feb. 2, 2020, in an accident at the family home in Colorado. He was an anesthesiologist who leaned on his background in clinical science to help Mikaela develop original training methods and unique workout programs. What he instilled in her was focus and to remain present in any moment.

On race days, he pretty much stayed in the background, sometimes even climbing trees adjacent to a race hill to catch a glimpse of her flying through a course. Her father, with his familiar bushy mustache, was always there for suggestions, video breakdown and, of course, hugs.

"This season I've been definitely thinking about him a lot," Mikaela Shiffrin said in an interview with The Associated Press. "A lot of it has been more emotional and I think more sad than it's been in a while, actually. I'm sure that's tied to some of the other experiences I've had this year.”

She's not quite sure what he would've thought of her winning her 100th World Cup race during a slalom in Sestriere, Italy, on Feb. 23.

"One of the worst things for me is when people say he would have been proud," Shiffrin said. "I'm like, 'Well, we don't know that. Maybe he would have told me to move on from ski racing now. Go find something else to do.’

"But I imagine he would have been sort of like the awkward, giggly dad proud. If anyone asked him, he might have brushed it off and been like, 'We're just trying to ski well.'"

She's got her mom and brother for support. Her fiance, Norwegian standout Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, too.

She leans on them - and will lean on them as the Olympics approach. Because the Beijing Games will be mentioned often to Shiffrin. Everything just felt different, including the venue and the lack of fans because of the pandemic to create any sort of buzz.

This version of the Winter Games takes place at a well-known venue in Cortina, on a well-known hill where Shiffrin won a World Cup super-G race in 2019 and a world championship Alpine combined gold medal in 2021.

"In many ways, Cortina is going to be - it might actually feel like my first Olympics in a place where Alpine skiing doesn't feel like an afterthought," said Shiffrin, who won the slalom at the 2014 Sochi Games and the GS gold four years later in Pyeongchang.

She figures to have company in the spotlight, too, with Lindsey Vonn back on the scene. The 40-year-old Vonn recently completed her comeback season after a partial knee replacement with a second-place showing at the World Cup finals in the super-G.

"Watching her ski that way (Sunday) with really challenging conditions … was really impressive,” the 30-year-old Shiffrin said. “I thought her skiing was really powerful."

On Thursday, no matter how she finishes, Shiffrin will be relinquishing her overall slalom title after winning the discipline’s crystal globe the past two seasons. She currently is sixth in the season-long slalom standings (she missed four slalom races after her crash), with a chance to finish second or third. Zrinka Ljutic Croatia leads with three other racers within striking distance for the crown.

"There's still a level of focus and intensity that I really want to bring to the slalom," Shiffrin said. "I also want to ski my best. For whatever is in front of me, I want to be able to handle it with my best game, my best turns."

That’s a mindset her dad helped instill.

Lately, little things have been reminding her of him. Like that Simon song.

"That song (coming on at the celebration), it was a gift for me," Shiffrin said. "I was just like, 'Oh my gosh, I'm going to start bawling.’ Certain music makes me think of him. Certain clothing makes me think of him. Those memories come back in flashes and at very unexpected times."