Why Mikaela Shiffrin Is Taking a "Realistic" Approach Ahead of Milan-Cortina 2026
SÖLDEN, AUSTRIA: Mikaela Shiffrin and the world’s elite ski racers throttled down the Rettenbach Glacier in Sölden, Austria, launching the 2025-26 season this past weekend, and while three months still remain, the chatter, hype, and anticipation of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics has taken center stage.
Nearly 30 women’s World Cup races lie ahead prior to the Olympics, with coveted season titles to be sought after, yet many mainstream U.S. sports fans most likely will not pay attention to the thrilling, unpredictable, and often dangerous sport until the Winter Games, in Italy, in February.
American ski racers and other Olympians, whether fair or unfair, will be judged by their performances across 16 days in the global spotlight, and not necessarily for their weekly World Cup accomplishments. The 30-year-old Shiffrin knows this all too well.
“It’s a double-edged sword, the Olympics are an incredible platform for the world to gain perspective and understand more about our sport, but I also feel like my relationship with the Olympics is that there are so many people who tune in, who maybe don’t take enough care to understand and know more of the backstory,” Shiffrin tells POWDER during a press conference in Sölden.
“There’s only so much that you can grasp about various athletes in various sports over a very loaded two week time period,” she adds.
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Shiffrin has flourished on the pressure-packed Olympic stage, winning slalom gold as a precocious 18-year-old in Sochi 2014, then adding GS gold and combined silver at PyeongChang 2018. However, she struggled at Beijing 2022, where the favored racer failed to finish three events. She was unable to medal across all six of her events.
“There’s this kind of pressure that comes with wanting with all of your soul to perform for your country, to represent your home, family, friends, and fans, and everyone who’s worked with you along the way, your whole team,” Shiffrin said.
“Not being able to exceed whatever expectations might be set—repercussions might not be the right word, but let’s go with that for now—it can be hard to live in that narrative and still prioritize the things that are more important for you as an athlete.”
Boasting 101 World Cup victories, three Olympic medals (two golds), eight World Championship titles, and five overall World Cup titles, Shiffrin is the most decorated alpine skier in history, male or female. Yet, images of her, distraught, sitting with her head buried in her hands after skiing off course at the Olympics in China, somehow linger.
Shiffrin has nothing left to prove, but one surmises that she still harbors a burning fire within to bring home a medal haul from Milan Cortina, and essentially erase the disappointment, criticism, and perceptions that she was subject to four years ago.
The veteran U.S. racer opened her 15th season on tour with a fourth-place showing in Soelden, 1.42 seconds behind Austrian winner Julia Schaub. Shiffrin’s longtime teammate Paula Moltzan charged to a career World Cup GS best, finishing second.
“A Beautiful Thing to Dream About”
Entering the new season, the narrative that has flown slightly under the radar due to the Olympic hype, is that Shiffrin stands just one overall World Cup crown from equaling Austrian icon Annemarie Moser-Pröll’s longstanding record of six, amassed in the 1970’s.
Shiffrin was asked which of the two tough tasks (winning Olympic medals versus scoring enough points for a sixth overall World Cup title) is her priority. She didn’t answer directly, but one senses that she believes, if all goes well, both are attainable. However, she has also declared that she won’t race downhills this Olympic season, and once again incorporating super-G’s remains a work in progress.
“I feel as motivated as ever, but I also feel realistic about the position I’m in right now, not necessarily going into the season feeling like I’m one of the fastest athletes,” Shiffrin reveals. “I feel like I have the potential to be in the mix, when I ski my best most confident skiing, which happens sometimes, but not all the time.
“The overall (title) is a beautiful thing to dream about, and those dreams haven’t stopped for me. But right now, I’m feeling realistic, taking the season step by step.”
Photo: Joseph Prezioso/Getty Images
Slowed by Crashes and Injuries
Shiffrin appeared en route to her sixth overall World Cup title two seasons ago, until a scary crash in a downhill race on Cortina’s Olympia delle Tofane course. She sprained the MCL and tibiofibular ligament in her left knee. The injury forced her out of the next 11 races and quickly dashed her chances of winning the record-tying Crystal Globe.
And last season, as Shiffrin was on the verge of claiming her 100th career World Cup victory, in Killington, Vermont, she uncharacteristically lost control and fell hard in a GS, resulting in a peculiar puncture wound that sidelined her for two months.
The American ski racing icon is no stranger to adversity, and finding solutions and the wherewithal to overcome it. She thanks fiancee’ Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, a Norwegian two-time overall World Cup champion, who has been rehabilitating from severe injuries himself, from a nasty crash in Switzerland two seasons ago, with helping her to remain positive through injury setbacks and other difficult moments.
Counting Down to Cortina
Shiffrin will arrive at the Olympic Winter Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo with the confidence of a stellar record on the Olympia delle Tofane piste, excluding one bad crash in January 2024.
In Cortina, Shiffrin sped to her first downhill podium in 2018, a super-G victory in 2019, and captured four medals, including one gold, at the 2021 World Championships.
“I really welcome going to Cortina. Overall, it is one of my favorite places and I’m so excited,” Shiffrin says, about the Italian Dolomites resort. “To be in a familiar place, given my Olympic history, is really key. Especially after the last Games in one of the most unfamiliar places and most uncomfortable time periods with COVID, and the isolation that we all felt.”
Shiffrin has noted that her focus for the Italian Olympics will be on her bread and butter slalom, GS, and the new team combined event. Super-G remains a possibility.
Overcoming PTSD and Fighting Back to GS Form
The dominant U.S. racer is the all-time leader with 22 World Cup GS victories, but struggled last season from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the aftermath of her crash. Shiffrin posted two ‘Did Not Finishes’ and her best result was 25th across her last four GS races.
She prioritized GS training over the summer months and says she has witnessed improvements. “It’s been an incredible journey to work from the end of last season, where I had a total mind body disconnect to where I am now, where I feel more in control of the improvements I’m making, where I want to be skiing,” she said.
Swedish veteran Sara Hector seeks to defend her Olympic GS title from Beijing 2022, in Italy. Continuing arduous rehabilitation from injuries and uncertainly surrounding top Italian skiers Federica Brignone and Marta Bassino, Hector knows Shiffrin is the one to beat.
“It doesn’t matter which discipline she is skiing because she possesses the skills, technique, and ability to push, everything that she needs to be winning all the time,” Hector says.
Despite Hector’s praise, Shiffrin seems wise and says she is heading toward her fourth Olympic Games prepared for all inevitabilities.
“If nothing else, my Olympic history has taught me to go with an open mind and to keep my circle tight with the people I trust, to be on the same page with my team,” the Colorado racer says. “I feel like we’re going into the season in a really good place, so I’m optimistic about that – the Olympics have been wonderful to me.”
A New Brand and “What’s the Point” Podcast
Shiffrin is launching a defining new chapter of her career off the slopes: her personal brand and logo. It will unite her career values and future endeavors, under one identity.
The talkative U.S. athlete will also drop the premier episode of her new podcast –“What’s the Point with Mikaela Shiffrin” on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. The date marks the 100-day countdown until the opening of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.
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