Perhaps it started on that icy driveway in Vail 27 years ago as three-year-old Mikaela Shiffrin strapped on two short skis and started scooting to the bottom as fast as she could in bundled up clothes and a hat pulled right down to the eyebrows.
It was all about getting to the street, vertical and fast. The turns would come later. The attitude and concentration never changed from that beginning.
It propelled her to reach the status of the greatest skier who ever lived, if you go by the defining tests of greatness in the sport… the World Cups, World Championships, and the Olympics. These international events bring together the best, and the legends emerge over time.
Mikaela became the best in March 2023 when she passed the all-time leader, Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark, with her 87th win on the World Cup circuit. That record had stood for 30 years. In November 2024 she got her 99th win in Austria and headed to Killington, Vt., site of where she perfected her craft as a teenager at Burke Mountain Academy. But, after leading the first run and the finish line coming up fast, she had a massive crash which took her to the hospital and out of racing for a while.
She came back from that terrible crash in February and won her 100th World Cup victory in Sestriere, Italy, and her 101st in the season finale in Sun Valley, Idaho. Those two wins gave her 157 podium medals, the most in World Cup history. She finished fourth in the slalom competition this season despite missing four World Cup races and ran her total to 64 World Cup Slalom wins.
That career would put her in some rarified air, not only in Alpine Skiing, but in all of sport.
It’s a world that might include Michael Phelps, Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Babe Ruth, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Simone Biles, Serena Williams, Lindsey Vonn. That world. She’s every bit the athlete and champions those amazing individuals are. And she may just be coming into her prime.
Here’s a look at what she’s accomplished on the slopes of the world.
Won the most World Cup gold medals in skiing history, 101.
Won the most World Cup podiums in skiing history, 157.
Won the most World Cup slalom races in skiing history, 64
Won two Olympic gold medals and one silver.
Is an eight-time world champion (4 Slalom, 1 Giant Slalom, 1 Super-G, 1 Combined, 1 Team Combined). She matched the record of World Championship medals with 15.
Is the only skier to win all seven of the Alpine disciplines: Downhill, Slalom, Giant Slalom, Super-G, Combined, Parallel Slalom, and Team Combines.
Reached the podium as a 16-year old in her first year on the World Cup. Won a gold medal at 17.
Won five Crystal Globes, as the overall winner of the World Cup season.
Won 11 discipline titles (8 in Slalom, 2 in Giant Slalom, 1 in Super-G).
Became the first skier to win 7 consecutive gold medals at the World Championships (2013-2024)
Won ESPY Award for “Best Athlete – Women’s Sports 2023.”
Was honored by the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame as the 2023 Professional Athlete of the Year.
Still holds the record of fastest time down her driveway in Vail.
by Bob Condron, USOC, Retired
