1 . Here’s the list of skiers, who have won four consecutive (连续的) world championships: Nobody.
Well, nobody besides Mikaela Shiffrin, who did it last Saturday in Are, Sweden. The Colorado skier, still just 23, is the best story, really, of this sports winter in the slalom (障碍滑雪).
She pulled it off, despite an illness that challenged her breathing. Shiffrin told NBC after her win that her mother, Eileen, advised her before her second run: You don’t have to do this. But Shiffrin told herself what she had told herself many times before: “I just need 60 seconds.” So she did it, and she got it. Shiffrin is closing in on her third World Cup overall title. She’s ranked No. 1 on the planet in slalom.
In women’s skiing, the mountain is now Shiffrin’s. She’s earned it. Those two (and soon three) World Cup overalls; 56 World Cup individual victories; and, oh yeah, right, three Olympic medals, two of them gold. Shiffrin is already considered a serious threat to Ingemar Stenmark’s record of 86 World Cup victories, and Lindsey Vonn’s 82, though the 34-year-old surely would have collected more had she not suffered repeated injuries during her career. Of course, Shiffrin may wind up chasing someone else’s mark—Austria’s brilliant Marcel Hirscher, 29, now has 68 World Cup wins.
At the same time, Shiffrin loathes all the talk about the numbers and records. “People see the records and statistics. They are asking for more, more, more…it looks easy, but it isn’t. Nowhere close,” Shiffrin wrote. “What I see is training, sleepless nights, pain, doubt, delayed lights, canceled flights, lost luggage, expense, adventure, and some races mixed in there.”
That’s what happens when you’re as good as she is. But nobody’s been as good as she is. In a sense, Shiffrin is just getting started. It’s very possible she will be at her peak powers when the Winter Olympics arrive in Beijing in 2022.
1. What do we know about Mikaela Shiffrin in her recent slalom race?| A．She was not in her best physical condition. |
| B．She pulled out of the race in the second run. |
| C．She followed her mother’s advice and succeeded. |
| D．She told herself a one-minute story before the race. |
| A．Eileen Shiffrin’s. | B．Ingemar Stenmark’s. |
| C．Lindsey Vonn’s. | D．Marcel Hirscher’s. |
| A．Summarizes. | B．Gives away. | C．Dislikes. | D．Focuses on. |
| A．Shiffrin Is Moving Mountains | B．Shiffrin Is At Her Peak |
| C．The Rise And Fall Of A Colorado Skier | D．The Most Popular Winter Sports |
