The Weekly - May 12, 2020 - 6

Pulse
S U M M E R

H E A D L I N E S

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# W E A R E C O M M U N I T Y

Shiff rin won
her 42nd
World Cup
slalom race
in Killington,
Vermont, in
December.

Can't Hold Her

Mikaela Shiffrin has been spending lockdown
time raising money, playing guitar, dancing-and
doing her taxes. By Helen Olsson
AT THE END OF APRIL, TAYLOR

Shiff rin needed a haircut. Like
others sheltering at home, he
agreed to let a family member
wield scissors and an electric
trimmer. "This is incredibly
satisfying," said Olympic ski racer
Mikaela Shiffrin as she lopped off
another hunk of her brother's thick

hair. "Did you just give me a Dumb
and Dumber bowl cut?" Taylor
asked. The haircut was decent; the
sibling banter even better.
Haircuts aside, Mikaela has
been taking this time to get her
life in order-and to grieve. In
early February, her dad, Jeff, died
unexpectedly in an accident.

6 THE WEEKLY / OUTDOOR RETAILER SUMMER 2020

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B O O T H

Mikaela was in Europe racing
and rushed home to be with him
before he passed. "Honestly, we
are all still reeling ... and will be
for a long time," Mikaela told Jac
Collinsworth of NBC Sports in
late April. "He was the CEO of me.
My mom, brother, and I have been
taking a crash course in finances."
The world's greatest slalom
skier has still found time to do
good from her Vail home base.
She joined 2018 Olympic gold
medal cross-country skier Jessie
Diggins, mountain bike racer Kate
Courtney, and pro tennis player
Madison Keys to raise $50,000
for COVID-19 relief through an
online Kindness in Crisis charity
auction of their sports memorabilia. (Mikaela's autographed
training bib went for $3,438; her
Oakley goggles, $5,100.)
She went on the Today show
to plug the nonprofit Goggles for
Docs initiative and headlined
a virtual après-ski fundraising
concert for the initiative, opening
for KT Tunstall. Mikaela sings
and plays guitar. And dances.
CNN's inaugural episode of Time
Out featured footage of her dancing in her driveway. "Dancing is
a really good way to exercise and
express yourself, and it's good
for your soul," she told CNN's
Christina Macfarlane.
Maybe social media can be too.
Mikaela told fellow alpine ski racer Michelle Gisin on an Instagram
Live chat, "Lately, [social media]
is the only way that people can
really connect. It's become a much

"DANCING IS A
REALLY GOOD
WAY TO EXERCISE
AND EXPRESS
YOURSELF, AND
IT'S GOOD FOR
YOUR SOUL."
-Mikaela Shiffrin

more positive place. People are
more supportive of each other."
Spreading her own brand of love,
Mikaela challenged Diggins to a
dance-off. "Holy cheese nips, Batman. Choreography is HARD,"
@mikaelashiffrin said on Twitter.
Countering, @jessdiggs posted a
bedroom dance routine to C2C.
In a nod to sponsors like
Atomic, adidas, Barilla, Oakley,
Leki, and Reusch, Mikaela posted
a video on Instagram of herself
donning her race suit, booting
up, and-just when you said, "Say
what now?"-taking a ski tour of
her snow-covered balcony. She
also invited fans into her home
gym for bodyweight workouts
and to sing along to her Parked
Car Karaoke rendition of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' Can't
Hold Us.
Ultimately, the lockdown has
given the skier time to regroup
and reflect. "With everything
else that's happening in the
world right now, it's giving us a
lot of perspective," she told Gisin. "Everybody's going through
something difficult."

CO U R T E S T U.S . S K I A N D S N OW B OA R D

THE

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https://www.instagram.com/p/B_SegEaDwgk/ https://twitter.com/MikaelaShiffrin https://twitter.com/jessdiggs/status/1253729884209381378 https://twitter.com/jessdiggs/status/1253729884209381378 https://www.instagram.com/p/B-zwHCfDzXp/ https://www.instagram.com/p/B_VEaxgDTRk/ https://www.instagram.com/p/B-zwHCfDzXp/ https://www.instagram.com/p/B_VEaxgDTRk/

The Weekly - May 12, 2020

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