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In the midst of her landmark season, Mikaela Shiffrin has parted ways with her longtime coach, saying she wants “to move forward with new leadership on my team for the next phase of my career.”
The move comes as she competes in the World Alpine Skiing Championships in Courchevel and Meribel, France, and her hunt for the record for World Cup wins resumes next month. The timing of the change was “a shock” for US Alpine Director Patrick Riml.
“Mikaela wants to do something different in the future. She wants a new challenge and she has informed Mike and Mike that they have decided to go home,” Riml told the Associated Press on Wednesday. “It’s a shock to me that he took off.”
Day had been with Shiffrin last week and was with her in Orcieres for a brief off-site training session. He had returned with her to Meribel where she will compete in her favorite events, giant slalom on Thursday and slalom on Saturday.
A person familiar with the situation told the Washington Post that Shiffrin planned to move away from Day for the next year and told him early so he could explore other opportunities. Day opted to depart immediately rather than end the season as a lame duck.
“He left yesterday,” said Riml. “He’s probably on the plane now.”
Shiffrin announced the change in a statement from the US Ski Team.
“After working with Mike Day for seven seasons, I have decided to move forward with new leadership on my team for the next phase of my career,” she said. “I want to thank Mike and acknowledge all of his work and dedication over the past few years.”
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Day joined the six-time world champion’s team as head coach in 2016 and will be replaced by assistant coach Mark Mitter and US women’s ski team coach Paul Kristofic, as well as others including Shiffrin’s mother, Eileen. “She will [be] more than supported by the team,” her publicist told Olympics.com.
The move comes during an exceptional season in which Shiffrin, who turns 28 next month, has won 11 World Cup races from 23 starts. Only twice (12 in 2017-18 and a record 17 in 2018-19) has she won more in a single season. She broke Lindsey Vonn’s record for most World Cup wins (82) by a female skier in January and is just one win away from breaking Ingemar Stenmark’s all-time record of 86 wins.
The World Championships, which do not count towards the overall World Cup, end on Sunday, meaning their first attempts to break Stenmark’s record would come from March 3-5 in Kvitfjell, Norway. The best opportunity, however, may be in Stenmark’s home country of Sweden, with giant slalom and slalom races in Are on March 10-11. Of Shiffrin’s 85 World Cup wins, 52 are in slalom and 19 in giant slalom.
Barry Svrluga contributed to this report.