Meet Eileen Shiffrin

Mikaela and Eileen Shiffrin enjoy one of many sunrises on a mountain

Part I of a two-part series shares some of the information gained in an interview with Eileen Shiffrin. She is both the coach and mother of the winningest skier in World Cup history. Part I explores her unique skiing origin story.

In Part II, she shares how she and her husband started their kids’ skiing and then ski racing. She also reveals the priorities she suggests for developing skiers.

It was a privilege to speak with this unique person who prefers to work quietly behind the scenes but has significantly contributed to the career of one of the best athletes in history.

Undoubtedly, she is an excellent coach and one of the most successful in the sport’s history.  Therefore, no one would be surprised if the story began with an early commitment to an entire life of elite ski racing. However, it begins only with a love of being active outdoors and a pasture across the street from her childhood home.

Few would predict this start

In the Berkshire Mountains of Western Massachusetts, a then three-year-old Eileen Condron crossed the street and followed her siblings into the snow-covered pasture. In that pasture was what she remembers as a steep slope. On that slope, she helped ski pack a run. On that run, she began a simple but legendary skiing career. Although her home in Lanesborough was very close to three ski areas, her ski journey began without a lift. Her love of the sport also began with leather boots tightened with laces and wooden skis with edges attached using screws. 

Undoubtedly skiing has been a consistent part of her winter life. Alongside her neighborhood friends and her brother and sister, the adventure-loving kid took to skiing quickly and soon she participated in the pasture race courses set using their ski poles. Notably, she remembers the kids got their big break when a snowmobile-owning family moved into the neighborhood and would occasionally tow the children up the slope. She also remembers being inspired by ABC’s TV show Wild World of Sports, which is how she learned about the skiing greats of the time.  

Eventually, her ski-loving father got her older brother PJ and sister Annie into organized ski racing. Almost every weekend, they would drive to Vermont and return with stories of disappointment. She remembers hearing how one of her siblings would come out of their bindings in the first run and the race would end before the day began. They told stories of freezing temperatures and early mornings and returned home bummed out. Because of that, she clearly remembers thinking, “I do not want to do that.”  Fortunately for her, having two kids in the sport was her father’s limit. 

Finding the right place

However, a perfect program for her did exist at nearby Mt. Greylock. It was at a rustic ski club where skiers warmed in front of a wood stove. At this tiny ski area, the enthusiastic young athlete received her first race instruction from the local coach, Vince Conway. It was a community club where children played safely and everyone knew everyone who rode the two rope tows. She also fondly remembers the fall club workdays cutting the long grass on the slopes with sickles. 

While she didn’t participate in USSA racing, the young Eileen did find an enjoyable competitive outlet when she entered the 7th grade and started high school racing. The school was near three ski areas with lights, so the team skied a lot. She participated in alpine and Nordic during her school days and loved both. Notably, one season she narrowly missed the Ski Meister state title, which combines both disciplines. However, she remembers doing much more than racing; her group of friends also did a lot of free skiing, jumping, and moguls and she skied a lot with her brother. “Our coach was a volunteer who taught history at the school.” She recalls, “He taught us meditation, which remains a big part of the mental side of things for me.”

Nursing school becomes the priority

The maturing young woman always loved sports and played as many as possible, including soccer, football, baseball, field hockey and tennis. However, when she enrolled in nursing at the University of New Hampshire (UNH), the school didn’t allow their nursing students to join the varsity sports teams. Her UNH advisor informed her that the labs and other schoolwork would leave too little time to train appropriately and travel to races. 

However, before being told she wouldn’t be allowed to participate in the school’s varsity sports programs, she remembers trying to be a walk-on with the ski team. “I started doing the dryland training with the group, and Marilyn Cochran was the coach then. It was really great and fitness was an experience I grew up with. After school, my high school teammates and my brother and sisters would meet outside every day and would either practice field hockey in the fall or we rolled right into long-distance training doing a five-mile run or weight training in that nice cool fall New England air. However, even though I was bummed out by not being allowed to be on the UNH ski team, I was pleased that I ended up with my nursing degree.”

A ski date changes her life

Notably, the world would ultimately witness the wonderful skiing of her son Taylor Shiffrin and her daughter Mikaela because of Eileen’s nursing career. 

While working at the St. Elizabeth Hospital next to Boston College, she met her future husband and father of her two children, Dr. Jeff Shiffrin.  Interestingly, their first date was a ski adventure at Killington. Jeff thought he would spend the day on the bunny slope teaching his date to ski. However, he quickly realized that his future wife was a talented athlete and an excellent skier. Eileen thinks that was the day she passed his litmus test.

Masters racing changed her life

The good doctor then talked Eileen into racing again. He convinced her that masters racing would be fun and worth her time and energy. She says, “That’s where I learned almost everything I know about ski racing. I gathered as much information from fellow masters racers as possible, especially from Jeff. It was a time when great skiers would finish racing for their school or end their US Ski Team careers and immediately start racing masters. We would all stand at the bottom of the course and discuss every detail of our runs. Then everyone would go out together at night; it was a lot of fun. 

That is really where my passion for the sport began. It was during that period that Jeff taught me about finishing a turn. I was already fast because I knew how to cut off the top of the turn, but that drove him up the wall. However, he eventually taught me how to carve a complete turn. At first, it slowed me down because I would overdo it, but I was naturally fast and never forgot how to ski a direct line.” 

She learned so much from her masters friends. Eileen says she picked up many essential details from many people over the years, including how to ski terrain and the importance of aerodynamics. She recalls explicitly learning to clear gates from Tiger Shaw and Felix McGrath. Jeff and her friends introduced her to ski tuning, base bevels, side bevels, and boot canting. She says, “I learned I loved ski racing and all the aspects of it. It was a lot of fun and I liked being fast.” 

Realizes the value of World Cup video

However it was while living in Vail and racing a lot, she started to watch a considerable amount of World Cup videos. She also continued to consider all the information other people offered her. “However, I knew the World Cup winning runs were a reliable source of instruction. I am self-taught, but all the information came from other people, so not really.”

Uniquely one of the most successful coaches in ski racing history had her passion ignited through masters racing. While her love of the sport was fostered young, her gateway into the elite levels of the sport came from her involvement with her children’s rise through its many ranks. 

More to come

In Part II, coach Shiffrin shares how she and Jeff introduced their kids to skiing, her thoughts on fundamentals, tactics, and mental skills, and provides fitness suggestions for young ski racers. Also, she speaks about her personal need to compete.  She tells us what she would repeat and what she did that she would now avoid. The interview also goes off-topic with a message about personal choices and priorities.