It is only the second time in its history that two competitors have shared the honour, which has been won by 68 different athletes over almost a century of existence.

Shiffrin is one of the biggest stars in the world of winter sports and this season added to her World Cup tally, now sitting on 66 wins - the second-highest total in women's World Cup history - before the loss of her father and the coronavirus pandemic brought Shiffrin's season to a premature end.

Meanwhile, Schumacher became the junior cross-country world champion in a discipline where the US are far less successful than Alpine skiing.

He also has become the first junior skier to win the Beck International Trophy since cross-country skier Bill Koch in 1975.

Schumacher took the first individual gold by an American junior at the World Championships in the 10 kilometres and later anchored the US men's team to a second straight relay gold and third straight medal in the event.

Shiffrin was an early leader in the International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup before the passing of her father, which led her to take a break from the circuit.

It marks the fourth that she has won the accolade and the fifth time she has been crowned the Alpine Athlete of the Year.

Speaking of the achievement, Shiffrin said: "I am so humbled, it's an incredible honour to share the award with three-time World Junior champion cross-country skier Gus Schumacher.

"It's super impressive to see a junior athlete receive this prestigious award, and I'm looking forward to following Gus' success throughout his career with the US Ski and Snowboard Team.

"I'd also want to thank my team and teammates, US Ski and Snowboard, and the ski community as a whole for your outpouring of love and support through what has been an unimaginable time in my life, your words and thoughts lifted me up when I needed it most."

Schumacher admitted he was not aware of the magnitude of the award before winning it alongside Shiffrin.

"I didn't know how big it was until I realised Mikaela was the other recipient," the Alaskan said.

"After that call, I realised it was a super big deal.

"It was cool because she's just a regular person - she was so nice and seemed genuinely interested in my skiing.

"I'm honoured to be sharing the Beck Award with her."

It is only the second time that the award has been shared.

Other US award winners were also crowned.

Maggie Voisin won the Freeskiing Athlete of the Year award, Jaelin Kauf was named Freestyle Athlete of the Year and Tara Geraghty-Moats Nordic Combined Athlete of the Year.

Andrew Urlaub was crowned Ski Jumping Athlete of the Year and Dusty Henricksen won the Snowboard Athlete of the Year award.