American skier Mikaela Shiffrin
© Stefan Holm, Shutterstock

March is Women’s History Month, an annual observance of women’s achievements and contributions to society. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature woman pioneers in a variety of areas. 

Last month, on February 15, the champion American alpine (downhill) skier Mikaela Shiffrin won her sixth combined World Championship. A combined competition consists of a downhill race and a slalom. (In a slalom, the skier must pass through marked gates in a zigzag fashion.) Shiffrin has won more world championship titles than any other American skier.

Shiffrin won the slalom gold medal at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, becoming the youngest slalom champion in Olympic history. In 2018, she won the giant slalom gold medal and the combined silver medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. She also won the slalom World Championship in 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019 and the super G (once called the super giant slalom) World Championship in 2019.

The slalom and the super G are two of the skiing races that make up the alpine World Cup. The cup is awarded annually to the men and women who have won the most points in a series of five races—the slalom, giant slalom, downhill, super G, and combined. Shiffrin initially concentrated on the slalom and giant slalom. She won the World Cup slalom title in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019. In 2019, she also won the World Cup giant slalom title. In 2016, she began competing in the other three World Cup events. Shiffrin won the World Cup super G title in 2019. She won the overall World Cup title in 2017, 2018, and 2019 for earning the most combined points in all the events. In 2018, Shiffrin won her 36th slalom race, breaking the record of 35 victories held by the Austrian skier Marlies Schild.

Shiffrin was born on March 13, 1995, in Vail, Colorado. She began skiing at the age of three. Her family moved to New Hampshire when she was eight. Shiffrin graduated in 2013 from Burke Mountain Academy in Vermont, a high school for young skiers. In 2011, she made her World Cup debut at the age of 15, winning the bronze medal at Lienz, Austria. Later that year, at the age of 16, she won the slalom title at the United States National Championships in Winter Park, Colorado. She thus became the youngest skier to win that event. In 2012, she won her first World Cup race and was named World Cup Rookie of the Year.

February 15, 2018

Last Friday, February 9, the Winter Olympic Games opened in the town of Pyeongchang (sometimes written as PyeongChang) in northeastern South Korea. Pyeongchang sits among the Taebaek Mountains of Gangwon Province southeast of Seoul, the South Korean capital. The first week of the Winter Olympic Games saw outstanding performances on the ice and snow, but perhaps the most dramatic event occurred during the opening ceremonies when the North and South Korean teams marched together under a flag representing a unified Korea. The two nations, created in 1948, were embittered by the brutal Korean War (1950-1953), and they have been at odds ever since.

The North Korea and South Korea Olympic teams march together under the Korean Unification Flag during the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games at Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium on Feb. 9, 2018. Credit: © Matthias Hangst, Getty Images

At Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium, ornate performances and light shows punctuated international team arrivals, but the most dazzling—and historical—moment was when members of the North and South Korean teams marched into the stadium side-by-side. In the stands, South Korean president Moon Jae-in shook hands with Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. Kim Yo-jong’s visit to South Korea is the first by a member of the North Korean ruling family since Kim Il-sung established North Korea as a Communist state in 1948. A combined North and South Korean women’s hockey team later competed in the games, but all other Korean athletes competed under their nation’s individual flag.

In the official Olympic emblem, the symbol ㅍ represents the first consonant of the first syllable of Pyeongchang in the Korean alphabet, (known as Hangeul), and expresses the “harmony of heaven, Earth, and man.” ㅊ depicts the first consonant of the second syllable of Pyeongchang, and represents “snow, ice, and winter sports stars (athletes).” Credit: © Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018

On the snow and ice, athletes from Norway, Canada, the Netherlands, and Germany jumped out to early medals in such cold-weather competitions as cross-country skiing, curling, speed skating, and ski jumping. United States snowboarders dominated as Redmond Gerard, Jamie Anderson, rising star Chloe Kim, and veteran boarder Shaun White won the first U.S. gold medals. U.S. alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin added a gold in the ladies’ giant slalom. Chris Mazder became the first U.S. athlete to medal in the luge, winning a surprising silver behind Austria’s David Gleirscher. In the team figure skating competition, the U.S. won bronze as Mirai Nagasu became the first American woman to land a triple axel jump (3 1/2 spins in mid-air) at the Olympics. The feat was accomplished previously by Japanese Olympians Midori Ito and Mao Asada. (Nagasu’s parents are also from Japan.) Canada won gold in the figure skating team competition, and the Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) took silver. The International Olympic Committee banned Russia from competing as a team because of performance-enhancing drug use, but individual Russian athletes—cleared by drug tests—have been allowed to compete under the OAR banner.

High winds delayed or postponed many events, but the weather calmed to allow Austrian skiing great Marcel Hirscher to win a long-awaited first Olympic gold medal. Skiers from France and Sweden also picked up gold medals in the first week, and short-track speed skater Lim Hyo-jun earned the host country’s first gold medal.