Mikaela Shiffrin draws LeBron James comparisons after basketball player breaks NBA scoring record

Shiffrin won the 12th World Championships medal of her illustrious career as she finished behind Italy’s Marta Bassino.

“Weirdly I woke up before my alarm, and my news alert was that,” said Shiffrin after her race.

“I was thinking, ‘Wow, that’s cool for him.’ I wasn’t sure if it was a dream, though, so it’s good to know that it’s true.

“It’s another example of incredible accomplishments happening in sport that will continue to drive future generations to try to reset the boundaries, reset the records, and keep pushing the level of sports, whether it’s skiing or it’s basketball or it’s anything.

“It symbolises this concept that we keep working harder and trying to do better.”

She has since moved to within one win of Ingemar Stenmark’s all-time record tally of 86.

Shiffrin’s super-G silver medal has come just a few days after she DNF (Did Not Finish) in the women’s combined, which brought back memories of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, when she didn’t finish three of her five individual races.

“The last two or four weeks, well, really the last year, but especially in the last few weeks, I must have answered 100 questions about this World Championships and basically if I’m worried that it’s going to be the same as what the Olympics was last year, If I’m worried about the disappointment, if I’m afraid of it,” said Shiffrin after the super-G.

“I was like, ‘I survived the Olympics, so I’m not afraid that it’s going to kill me if I don’t win a medal this World Championships.’ That’s what I’ve been saying, but for sure, you get asked the same thing again and again.

“It’s so hard to keep the balance in your mind to answer this question and still be positive and still think I can do this. I can ski my best. I can make it to the finish.

“And then after the combined, I was like, you have got to be kidding me. My DNF rate now in my entire career, over 50 percent of it is at the Olympics or World Championships. Like, c’mon. It’s almost funny. And it’s only funny because I was able to win a medal today.

“The pressure’s not off, but there’s for sure a little bit of relief.”

Shiffrin’s 12th World Championships medal ties her with the modern individual record held by Kjetil Andre Aamodt.

The American will not ski Saturday’s downhill so will now turn her attention to the technical events that start next week.

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