Skiing – The Sport of Freedom on All Fronts!
Skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. It is a recreational activity as well as a competitive sport. But, the best part of it is that skiing is the closest thing to flying without the danger of leaving the ground.
You may have read in the beginning that I mentioned competitive skiing, because that’s what we’re focusing most in this article.
I’m Erla Idrizi, I’m a competitive alpine skier and a member of the Ski Federation of North Macedonia. I am a part of the Albanian ski club, Sharri Academy.
I started this journey when I was five years old in the same club I am a member of today!
My first competition was at eight years old in 2018 where I got 3rd place.
The most special competition for me has to be the first time I got 1st place. It was an exciting and beautiful moment getting my name called by the best coaches in North Macedonia as the winner in a ski competition in Mavrovo.
This journey goes on and on where I’ve been a part of countless competitions at Popova Sapka, Mavrovo, Pelister and Arxhena Ski hill – Kosovo, all of which resulted in me doing great and getting a lot of trophies and medals for me and my team.
This is my experience as an alpine skier and the inspiration behind this were a lot of great skiers among which is the greatest of all time, Mikaela Shiffrin.
Mikaela Shiffrin is an American alpine ski racer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest ski racers in the world. Her wins include six disciplines which are slalom, giant slalom, parallel slalom, alpine combined, super-G, and downhill.
Shiffrin is the youngest slalom champion in Olympic alpine skiing history, at 18 years and 345 days.
Mikaela Shiffrin holds the record of 85 World Cup wins, having tied and then surpassed Lindsey Vonn on 82. Shiffrin made her World Cup debut in 2011 and raced against Vonn until 2019, when the Vancouver 2010 Olympic gold medallist retired at the end of the season.
Shiffrin has won three career Olympic medals (two gold and one silver). She is a five-time Overall World Cup champion (2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2023) and In 2023 Shiffrin notched her 87 World Cup win, passing Ingemar Stenmark’s record that stood for 34 years.
She is a four-time world champion in slalom and an eight-time winner of the World Cup discipline title in that event.
In the final slalom race of the 2023-24 season on Saturday, March 16, Mikaela Shiffrin earned her 97th career World Cup victory and was officially awarded her record-equaling eighth slalom Crystal Globe.
