Sky’s the Limit for Mikaela Shiffrin
Sky’s the Limit for Mikaela Shiffrin
She’s considered the greatest alpine downhill skier of all time and has the most World Cup wins of any alpine skier in the history of the sport (men or women)- and she hasn’t even celebrated her 30th birthday yet. Mikaela Shiffrin, legendary skier, extended her record-breaking career World Cup wins to 93 on December 28 in 
remarkable fashion at the last race of the year at Lienz, Austria.
Born in Vail, Colorado, to former ski racers Jeff and Eileen Shiffrin, Mikaela grew up on the slopes. Jeff raced for Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, as an undergraduate. Later, he returned to New Hampshire as an anesthesiologist at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, when he also enrolled his kids, Mikaela and Taylor, at Burke Mountain Academy, a ski school in East Burke, Vermont. Taylor followed his parents’ footsteps and skied at the college level for the University of Denver in Colorado. Mikaela showed very strong results in major competitions as a teenager. At age 14, she won gold in both the slalom and giant slalom at the Topolino Games in Italy.
In 2011, Shiffrin started her World Cup career in giant slalom at Spindleruv Mlyn in the Czech Republic. At age 16, she was the youngest US National Champion when she won the slalom title at Winter Park, CO, in April of 2011. She secured her first World Cup podium with a third-place title at a slalom in Lienz, Austria, and success continued quickly thereafter, with Lienz became one of her favorite title-towns in the world. At 17, in Are, Sweden, Shiffrin was named the second youngest American to win the night slalom World Cup title.
Shiffrin didn’t let her demanding professional tour stop her from pursuing her education. She graduated on time from Burke Mountain Academy, though most of her junior and senior high school years were spent on the World Cup tour in Europe. In 2014, Mikaela was named one of ESPNW’s Impact 25 when she won her first Winter Olympic gold, World Cup title and world championship in the slalom.
In the 2018 Winter Olympics, she won gold in both the slalom and giant 
slalom, all while piling up more and more World Cup titles along the way. This juggernaut of success is what led the world to predict sweeping wins at the 2022 Winter Olympics. What followed was a surprising empty-handed season. 2022 in Beijing was her most disappointing tournament, resulting in no podium finish in five events. Yet it was that challenge that has set the tone for Shiffrin’s remarkable tenacity. It had been her first Olympic competition since the tragic loss of her father, Jeff. The anesthesiologist had been her biggest cheerleader.
“You can fail and not be a failure, and I have won in my career and I’m going to win again,” Shiffrin said, when asked about Beijing. She backed her words with the 13 World Cup wins in 2023, finished on the podium in 12 of her last 13 World Cup slalom events. The well-documented formula for her success is 10 hours of sleep every night. Shiffrin remains an icon and inspiration to anyone chasing a dream. Her words and wisdom are backed by tremendous hard work! 🎿
