Mikaela Shiffrin’s World Cup crystal globe gets a makeover | Whiteout
Once broken, now fixed...sort of, on display now in Vail
Mikaela Shiffrin skis really fast and claims copious podiums, but when it comes to keeping her trophies intact, she is a bull in a china shop.
While in Europe in March, Shiffrin broke one of her three 2022-23 World Cup crystal globes.
According to Eileen Shiffrin, Mikaela’s mother, Shiffrin’s globe in Giant Slalom “rolled off the passenger seat while buckled in for a shoot with Land Rover in the lobby of the Hermitage Hotel in Soldeu, Andorra after the World Cup Finals.”
The accident can be seen in Episode 6 of Shiffrin’s Youtube video-series Moving Right Along.
As Shiffrin places the three trophies one-by-one into the passenger seat of the Land Rover, the Giant Slalom trophy falls out, breaks, and pieces of crystal glass from the base plate can be seen on the ground outside the SUV.
Once broken and now sort-of-fixed, one of the most sought out trophies on the planet has received a makeover.
After sitting in its case most of the summer, Eileen called family friend, skier and filmmaker Chris Anthony in mid-August to see if he could repair it.
“Mikaela’s mother Eileen reached out to me and she said: ‘Chris, do you think you can figure something out with this globe? We’re either going to toss it or we’d like to donate it to the museum (Colorado Snowsports Museum) if a display can be figured out for it’,” Anthony said.
Anthony chose to figure out how to repair the globe, telling Eileen, “do not throw this away,” since to skiers, World Cup globes are like the Stanley Cup or Lombardi Trophy and are amazing just to have in your presence.
Because the Shiffrins were in a hurry to leave town and head back to Europe, Eileen told Anthony she’d leave it on his front porch for pick up.
Anthony first revealed the trophy from his vehicle after picking it up from Eileen, instead of on his front porch.
“I just picked it up and I’m gonna figure out (how to restore it),” Anthony recalls saying.
“So check this out, there’s something very special inside this box,” Anthony said as he walks up to the case Shiffrin’s globe is in. “(Inside) is one of the most sought after trophies on the planet.”
Anthony pulled the loose bubble wrap away to reveal the trophy, lifted it up and said: “this is made of crystal, it is incredibly heavy and is very special, expect there is one problem, the bottom broke off in a freak accident.”
A week later while hosting the 2023 Colorado Snowsports Museum’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Anthony showed the audience the broken hardware and announced he was taking on the tedious task of figuring out how to repurpose or repair the trophy.
“Mikaela and her mom said if we can find somebody to put a new base on the bottom of this globe, she will donate it to the museum,” Anthony said to the crowd.
The exposed broken part tells the story
Upon searching, Anthony found a craftsman named John Sysak at Progressive Plastics in south Denver who took on the repair of the trophy.
“Chris Anthony brought this in, this project for me to work on. It’s Mikeala’s World Cup slalom trophy from 2022-23 and it accidently got broken,” Sysak said while testing out the base plate and hollow stem stand built with the trophy.
“Originally we were going to try and hide the broken part, so what we came up with was a black base and I machined a piece of Clearcast acrylic tube, beveled and polished the top, then machined it to put it in here (the base).”
Sysak made three passes over the base plate, cutting a 3/4-inch-deep circular hole, large enough for the Clearcast tube to stand in.
He also allowed enough space on the base plate for Shiffrin to hopefully eventually sign it.
Sysak said because the trophy is leaded glass, he couldn’t do much with fixing the base and stem to recreate the original trophy’s look so he and Anthony decided on the raised presentation, which would tell the story on how it got broken. Shiffrin’s other damaged trophy, a 2017-18 World Cup Overall globe, has a crack around the base of the sphere at the connector-stem.
“Instead of hiding it we came up with this simple idea, and it just sits and floats in there,” Sysak said. “I know Mikaela’s a really awesome skier, she’s fast, but maybe she’s a bull in a China shop when it comes to glass trophies.”
Anthony later found Brian Hart from Frame De Art, a shop only 10 minutes drive from Sysak’s shop in Englewood, to build a plaque to be displayed with the globe.
The plaque reads:
Mikaela Shiffrin’s 2022-23 World Cup Giant Slalom Globe
According to Eileen Shiffrin (Mikaela’s Mother)
“It rolled off the passenger seat when being buckled in for a shoot with Land Rover in the Lobby of the Hermitage Hotel in Soldeu, Andorra after World Cup Finals.”
Anthony brought the plaque to Sysak’s shop on Oct. 10, reconnecting the trophy and its new stand together to tell the story.
“It’s brilliant what he came up with,” Anthony said. “This is awesome.”
The Globe’s lore at the museum
On Oct. 16, Anthony walked into the Snowsports Musuem in Vail with the same silver case he received from Eileen a couple months prior. However, this time inside the case was the newly-reborn infamous globe Shiffrin broke in the spring.
Anthony had brought in Shiffrin’s World Cup globe to hand over the crystal hardware to Executive Director Jennifer Mason and the museum’s team for display.
“So we’re sitting here in the museum today, a very special museum, and what I have in front of me is a new edition to the exhibit here,” Anthony said while a couple of museum patrons looked on as he talked about the trophy. “This is a wonderful piece he (Sysak) created that can now stand up by itself, but more specifically it can show where it broke on the bottom.”
While wiping down the newest exhibit, Anthony and Mason chatted about where the globe would reside.
The Snowsports museum has a few rows of exhibits showing off the history of skiing, snowboarding and other snow-related items in Colorado, skiers and riders who made an impact on their sports respectively — and of course a growing section of Mikaela Shiffrin hardware.
Anthony and Mason unscrewed the bolts from the plexiglass pane in front of where Shiffrin’s 2017-18 World Cup globe sits on display.
Anthony jokingly said the pane weighed nearly as much as Shiffrin’s globe while he delicately removed the seven-foot-tall piece of plexiglass. He and Mason the began to reorganize the display for its newest member, making a spot next to her 2017-18 globe and 87 World Cup wins hat.
Anthony then placed the new globe into its stand. It was a magical moment for the two as they smiled and set the pane back in place.
The museum now has three World Cup globes. Former U.S. Ski Team racer Phil Mahre donated his 1981 World Cup Overall globe to the museum in 2008 and it sits to the right of Shiffrin’s two globes.
“It is so awesome that Mikaela gifted the globe to the Snowsports museum,” Mason said after the display case was closed up. “The back story of how it broke is so fun! As our hometown hero, it is so incredible that we have these precious artifacts of Mikaela’s in the museum.”
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