Opinion: Mikaela Shiffrin's latest title quiets the doubts. Not of the critics, of hers.

Her latest overall title, the fourth for those keeping track, is just what Mikaela Shiffrin needed to settle the doubts.

Not those of the critics and the trolls ready to write her off after her struggles at the Beijing Olympics. Her own.

The last two years have been the most challenging, exhausting and unsettling of Shiffrin’s storied career, and they had her wondering if she would ever return to the form that had made her so dominant. Her performance in Beijing, where she did not finish a single individual technical race or win a single medal, only left her with more questions.

But the large crystal globe, the prize for winning the overall season title, that she’s bringing home from Europe this week is an indication that she is, once again, on track.

“(The overall title) feels special for a number of reasons, but especially because I feel it represents more than just this season alone. It represents more than just success alone,” Shiffrin told USA TODAY Sports on Monday. “The globe itself, to me, represents a two-year-long journey to get back to a place in ski racing where I could actually compete for the top level consistently.

“If you asked me at this time last year if I could be in that position, I would have said no, there’s absolutely no chance.”

A two-time Olympic champion before her 23rd birthday, Shiffrin had perhaps the greatest season in ski racing history in 2018-19. She won a record 17 World Cup races, including three super-G victories that made her the first Alpine skier, male or female, to win in all six disciplines. She claimed her third consecutive overall title, as well as the season titles in slalom, giant slalom and super-G.

The following year, it all came apart.

Shiffrin was devastated by the unexpected death of her father, Jeff, on Feb. 2, 2020. The start of the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the end of the season, and made her usual off-season training impossible.

She got a late start to the 2020-21 season because of a back injury. More concerning was the exhaustion and lack of focus she felt throughout the season, a sign of her lingering grief.

“I couldn’t find a way to keep myself focused through two runs in a race, let alone keep that going through the entire season,” Shiffrin said.

Despite a back injury that cost her two weeks of training in December, and a bout with COVID that put her in isolation for eight days after Christmas, Shiffrin appeared to be rebounding this season.

Her 47th slalom victory set a record for most wins in a single discipline. Her five World Cup victories give her 74 total, third behind Ingemar Stenmark (86) and Lindsey Vonn (82). Shiffrin’s 14 podium finishes, across four events, were the most of any woman this season.

Then came Beijing.

After recording three Did Not Finishes over a four-year span, she had three in 11 days at the Olympics. Her best finish was ninth in the super-G.

More distressing than the results was that, for the first time in Shiffrin’s career, they didn’t align with how she felt. She has always been able to trust in the fact that, if she was skiing well in training and feeling good about her preparation, that would carry over into the races. She might not always win, but more often than not she would.

In Beijing, however, Shiffrin felt good. She had solid training sessions. She was confident in her race strategy. Yet it all evaporated as soon as she left the starting gate, and she found herself questioning everything she’d been so sure she knew.

“I still don’t really have a significant reason or a really great explanation for why the Olympics happened the way they did for me,” she said. “Maybe I don’t really have to have an explanation. Especially after the last couple of weeks, my skiing, in all events, is still fast.”

In her first race after Beijing, Shiffrin finished second in the super-G in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. She was fourth in the giant slalom the following day, then finished third in a GS race in Are, Sweden, the next weekend.

She won the downhill at the World Cup finals last Wednesday, then finished second in super-G the next day to clinch the overall title. Shiffrin is now tied with Vonn for the second-most overall titles, two shy of the record six won by Annemarie Moser-Proell.

“It’s good to get some distance from the performance in Beijing and realize nothing really changed there. It boils down to good skiing and, obviously, making it to the finish,” Shiffrin said.

“The instability I felt in Beijing, it seems like it’s been stabilizing over the last couple of weeks. It feels like, `OK, things are adding up a little bit more. Making sense again.’ It feels like the results are in line with the skiing and the mentality.

“It just adds up better.”

Given the vitriol spewed at her during Beijing by mean-spirited people and those who don’t understand the Olympics aren’t the only, or even best, measure of an Alpine skier’s career, it would have been understandable if Shiffrin had decided to disappear for a while. That she chose to persevere instead is a testament to the strength of both her spirit and character.

The disappointment Shiffrin feels about Beijing will probably always stay with her, as will the sorrow of these last two years. By winning the overall title, she showed herself that the talent and focus that has made her one of the best ever has stayed with her, too.  

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour.