Mikaela Shiffrin will ‘have to find a new motivation’ says Ingemar Stenmark after American breaks his record

Stenmark won his 86th and last World Cup in 1989 with many thinking Marcel Hirscher or Lindsey Vonn would surpass his milestone.

However, a surprise retirement for Hirscher and injuries for Vonn meant it was Shiffrin who has become the most decorated skier and Stenmark is wondering what’s next.

“It is difficult,” Stenmark told the FIS. “When I broke that record, it was a long time before I quit.

“It was nice when you broke the record. But after that, I never thought about it. I don’t think she’ll care too much after beating it either. She just has to find some other motivations.

“To reach the top and be able to keep winning so many competitions, you have to try to find a new motivation, new goals. And that’s what’s hard when you’ve been around for a while and when you’ve won a lot.

“She is starting to get – and is already – good at super-G. She can do downhill races well too, so perhaps that’s a new motivation for her.”

Stenmark became the most successful skier on the World Cup in 1981 when he overtook Annemarie Moser-Proell’s 62 wins.

Having won two Olympic golds in 1980, he failed to medal again at the Winter Olympics and won just one World Championships title after 1981.

The Swede believes Shiffrin having partner Aleksander Aamodt Kilde to lean on will be a big help for the final part of her career.

“I can’t say I was aiming to break records, I just tried to win race after race,” he said when asked about his own motivation.

“The world championships and the Olympics were perhaps the motivation for me. In the last few years, the motivation was to be with my friends in the Swedish national team. It was a nice group of people.

“After all, she [Shiffrin] has a boyfriend, Kilde, who is also doing it, so that makes it easier. They can train together in the summer and motivate each other.”

Whilst Stenmark’s 86 wins came solely in giant slalom and slalom, Shiffrin has won across all disciplines

She burst onto the scene as a 16-year-old when she won her first podium in 2011 and took her maiden World Cup victory in Are, the same venue she broke Stenmark’s record.

Having seen Shiffrin ski at an early age, Stenmark was confident she would go on to achieve incredible things.

“She deserves the record more than anyone else,” he added. “It’s just fun. She is a great skier and seems to be a very sympathetic person. So, I just think it’s nice for her.

“Already back then I said that Shiffrin will definitely get 100 wins. And I still think she will do that if she continues.

“She is a complete skier. She has a good technique, but it’s not only that. She has physical strength, she has a strong head – those things combined make her so good.

“And she’s smart too. She doesn’t have to race at 100 percent speed. She knows that the others have to go beyond their ability [to beat her] and that they will make some mistakes.”

– – –