Jeff Shiffrin was a ski dad, and so much more.
Shiffrin, the father of Olympic Alpine skiing gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin, died unexpectedly Sunday night at age 65.
“Our mountains, our ocean, our sunrise, our heart, our soul, our everything,” was posted on Mikaela’s social media Monday. “He taught us so many valuable lessons…but above everything else, he taught us the golden rule: be nice, think first. This is something I will carry with me forever.”
NBC Sports’ Tim Layden remembered Jeff Shiffrin in a story this week and a video essay that airs during NBC Sports’ Alpine skiing World Cup coverage this weekend (full season TV schedule here).
Shiffrin is not racing at the World Cup stop in Germany on Saturday and Sunday. When she returns to the circuit is unknown, but when she does, she will carry what she learned from her father, so often a steady presence at the bottom of the ski hill for her and older brother Taylor.
“As far as skiing,” he said before Mikaela’s first Olympics in 2014, “the only thing we pushed on the kids is that you better love it, so that you’re happy doing it, and learning is a lifelong endeavor.”
