Why keep going?
For Mikaela Shiffrin, already the winningest alpine ski racer of all time, it’s a big question. And it’s one that she addressed, among others—including a wedding update—in a solo episode she shared to YouTube.
“I’m really just talking and sharing what’s up,” she began, before noting one thing that she’s been thinking a lot about recently: motivation.
Some of those thoughts, surely, come from the outside. Shiffrin said that she’s often asked about her desire to continue racing and the possibility of retirement.
At this point, Shiffrin, now 31, has smashed almost every record imaginable on the race course. She’s won 110 World Cup races, setting the record for both men and women by a wide margin—with three gold medals and one silver to boot. Her legacy’s long been assured.
But, Shiffrin said, it’s not about records or numbers for her.
“That’s really for my publicist and my team and my agent. They keep track of that,” she said.
She said that challenge is something that motivates her, although it’s more than just a challenge for the sake of challenge, which, to her, “seems a little bit silly.”
“I’m realizing that it’s more about curiosity. I just want to learn what’s around the corner,” she said.
As for numbers, according to Shiffrin, they don’t do justice to the experiences.
“You’d assume that a record-breaking season is all good, only good, all of the time,” she said. “But that’s not necessarily the case.”
On the flip side, a less impressive season from the outside might be one where the most work and improvement happen, Shiffrin continued. She thinks that’s maybe why scores and records haven’t been her focus.
“It’s always been about the turns,” she said, adding that “the turns and the technique” is where she connects. She then described the feeling of figuring things out in training and seeing those tweaks improve her time on the course.
“I simply love skiing, and I still feel like there’s more in that,” she said.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for W+P
As of now, she feels curious about giant slalom, a discipline where, this past winter, she was a strong contender but not dominant.
Then, there’s super G, which she said has been a “passion project” for much of her career. Historically, Shiffrin’s strength has been in the tech disciplines of slalom and giant slalom. But she seems excited about making gains in the speedier super G.
“Getting back to the start of a few super G races this season was so exhilarating, and it was nerve-wracking and extremely challenging,” she said. Every time she finished, she thought: “Let me do that again.”
“That feeling is what tells me that I have something to give in the event,” she said.
Those ponderings dovetailed into comfort zones, an area where Shiffrin’s also been pushed off the slopes. Earlier this summer, she had a jam-packed week in New York City with appearances at the ESPYs and the Time100 Sports Gala, among other events.
“Needless to say, it was a lot,” she said.
ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Images
Shiffrin said people seem surprised when she explains that whirlwinds like this are far outside her comfort zone. Instead, she noted that she’s most comfortable when there’s a helmet and goggles covering her face.
“It can certainly be fun,” she said of the shows. “But I feel very out of place. I feel like it’s an out-of-body experience.”
She also made it a point to say that she’s realized that her platform shouldn’t be taken for granted—Shiffrin’s one of the most visible figures in skiing, after all.
“It’s given me the chance to talk about things that are important for me, grief, and PTSD and mental health, access to sports, and particularly access to snow sports, cancer research and awareness, climate change,” she said. “Those are just to name a few.”
With everything going on in Shiffrin’s life, from training and competing to the media circuit, it could be a shock—or not—that she only spends about five consistent weeks with her fiancé, fellow ski racer Aleksander Aamodt Kilde.
Duly, they haven’t started wedding planning yet, Shiffrin said, nodding to another question that comes up regularly.
“I know who I want to spend my life with,” she said. “At this point we’re just trying to actually enjoy the limited time we get to spend together.”
Related: Valle Nevado “Transformed” by Unbelievable Storm, Opens Almost 100% of Terrain
