“When I’m in the starting gate, it’s just me and the hill.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“Out on the hill under the helmet, nobody sees your face or hair, but then you take it off, and they do – that’s the part I’m nervous about.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I rely on breakfast to give me a kickstart of energy in the morning, so I choose my foods accordingly.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I do doubles on Monday and Thursday, take Wednesday off or do easy cardio, do doubles on Thursday and Friday, and the weekend I just get outside and get active – jog or bike ride, or play tennis with my mom.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“Dream big, but don’t be upset if it doesn’t happen.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“My whole thing is simple, well-balanced meals. I have to say, though, that I really like dessert. I try not to eat dessert every day, but I’ll have dessert every now and then.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“Things you don’t expect come up, and you have to adapt. You can’t let it throw you off. You have to cope. Those are all really valuable skills, in life and racing.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“A perfect day for me would just be a day that goes the way I plan.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I’m not really seeing pressure as a negative.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“My dream job has always been to be a ski racer.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“It rained a lot in New Hampshire, and when I skied, the snow was icy and hard, and the mountains were small.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“Whether it’s learning to hit a backhand in tennis, learning high school chemistry, or getting better at ski racing, I really believe with hard work and analytic preparation, you can skip a few steps and find the faster way.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I like it when hard work pays off.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I think part of the fun about walking around in ski boots is making it look as awkward as possible. I really think that’s enjoyable. I don’t know why.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I have to constantly keep pushing myself.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“Drama holds you back.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I remember skiing being a family recreational thing.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“When I was 3 years old, I thought I was very good at skiing.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I just – I fell in love with the sport when I started to ski gates. Once I was allowed to start training gates around 6 years old, then I really fell in love with it.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I love traveling and seeing new things, learning the histories of different cultures. But I’ve always wanted to go to the Galapagos to see the giant turtles.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“My parents strapped a pair of plastic skis on my boots when I was two years old and sent me down our driveway in Vail. Of course, they were holding on to me the whole time, but that was my first experience ‘skiing.’”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“If I hadn’t come East as a kid, I might still be a World Cup racer today, but I wouldn’t be the same World Cup racer.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I don’t really have time or interest in doing a lot of the crazy things that some of my teenage peers do, mostly because I have such a hectic life that I don’t need to add to that chaos by creating my own teenage drama like a lot of teenagers do.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I have never limited myself by focusing much on being a ‘normal’ teenager.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I just have tried to adapt to the constant changes that happen all the time in my schedule and try and find any sort of mini-predictability and balance within my very unpredictable life.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“One of the biggest misconceptions is that carbs are bad. It’s a fad right now. Full disclosure: I’m sponsored by Barilla. But I’ve always been free about saying I love carbs, including pasta, in moderation.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“The harsh cold and windburn from hours of skiing does a lot of damage to my skin, so I try to keep my skin as moisturized as possible.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“Most people just see ski racing during the Olympics.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I have some really lofty goals that don’t even scratch upon the Olympics.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I think it’s good to stimulate your mind.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I was lucky enough that my parents knew about World Cup skiing, so since I was really little, we were watching World Cup winning runs.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I’ve always wanted to do things as fast as possible.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I get this adrenaline rush from just going down the course and feeling like I made a really great turn and I’m going to do it again and again and again. That feeling can’t be replaced, and that’s the feeling I’m striving to get every time I go out there.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“You can’t ever make the perfect run, but you can make the best run, and then you clock the fastest time, and that’s a win.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“If you strive toward the perfect run, accepting that you will always come up short of that is very intriguing. It makes me think about how in life in general, we always want to strive toward perfection, but sometimes perfection would be the worst thing.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I haven’t had to make a decision between ‘my brand’ and money. Everybody seems to get what I’m going for: the healthy lifestyle, staying active, being young and youthful.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“During the season, one of the most important things to eat is the carbs. Protein’s really important, too, but it’s the carbs that are important because I have to consistently refuel for the next day.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“In the end, I want to be an inspiration to somebody.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I’ve learned some quick tricks about how to fix my hair so I can dash somewhere unexpected and still be O.K. when someone stops me to take a picture.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“People tell me an Olympic medal is a life-changing event. Except I don’t even think about the medal unless someone asks about it.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“People watch the Olympics because they want to believe in heroes; I know I did.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I have all these things I want to do, but I don’t have to do them right away. Because it’s not just about winning, it’s about succeeding, which to me are two different things.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“Some sports, you see some athletes just walking around the gym not really doing anything, eating food. They’re first to the lunchroom, never lifting weights.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“It’s hard to find someone who is really genuinely happy for you if you are having success and they’re not.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I just try to be as nice as possible and make fun of myself and laugh at the jokes.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“’Don’t worry about it, and you’ll be great,’ said nobody, ever.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“Here’s the thing. You can’t get ten thousand hours of skiing. You spend so much time on the chairlift. My coach did a calculation of how many hours I’ve been on snow. We’d been overestimating. I think we came up with something like eleven total hours of skiing on snow a year. It’s, like, seven minutes a day.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I always practice, even on the cat tracks or in those interstitial periods. My dad says, ‘Even when you’re just stopping, be sure to do it right, maintaining a good position, with counter-rotational force.’ These are the kinds of things my dad says, and I’m like, ‘Shut up.’”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“You have to have the brain to conceptualize technique and apply it to your body.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I can’t really picture a time when she won’t be on tour with me. Mom has always been my best friend. But, yes, eventually she might get sick of it.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“Pasta is my superfood! Balance and moderation are the basis for my diet, though, so I also make sure to incorporate plenty of protein, fruits, and veggies throughout the day.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I wouldn’t eat a 1,000-calorie bowl of spaghetti for dinner, but I’ve always loved pasta and think it’s a good addition to any meal and a great base for pretty much any vegetable. It’s also great when I have a nervous stomach before race day.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I’ve had a lot of people tell me, ‘Yeah, sure, you’re good at slalom, but wait till you get to the real events like downhill or super-G.’ I don’t like hearing that.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“After many of my victories, I hear people asking me these questions: ‘What else is there to win?’ And I want to shout, ‘What do you mean, what else? There’s so much else!’”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“Sometimes I feel surrounded by this dark cloud, and it feels like I can’t breathe. It’s nervousness and I don’t know what else.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“Once you start having success, it’s easy to forget the mentality that got you started as a kid.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“If I leave any legacy behind, it’s just the idea, just the theory that you admit to your ambitions, and you don’t let people tell you you’re wrong to have those ambitions.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I’ve always said my expectations are higher than what anyone else could put on me.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“When I get back on snow, it’s almost like I travel back in time to that feeling I used to have. That youthful, 6-year-old, ‘nothing else matters,’ ‘you’re sort of the center of the universe’ kind of a feeling.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“I don’t know what the point of life is, but I’m certain that five gold medals is not it.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“If you don’t think it’s possible to win five golds, go talk to Michael Phelps.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“One thing I’ve learned from winning an Olympic medal is that it’s really exhausting.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
“When you have two races in a row, it’s really important to keep that mental energy stable.”
― Mikaela Shiffrin
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