Photo above courtesy of Stifel U.S. Ski Team
As told to Amy Conway
Why did you decide to start your podcast, What’s the Point with Mikaela Shiffrin?
Last fall, I sat down with one of my big rivals in ski racing, Petra Vlhová. We were both training in Ushuaia, Argentina, and I asked if she would ever want to sit down and just chat, if I could potentially film the conversation and use some of it for my YouTube channel. She was totally open to it. It was a really cool conversation. That got me thinking, together with my management team, about the opportunity to share more stories within our sport and beyond. I have gotten a lot of questions about legacy ever since I was 17 years old—I was just starting and I had no idea how to even comprehend a question like that. It’s been a recurring theme. This question has actually become almost a trigger for me. It’s loaded. It almost makes me feel like I’m not doing enough, even though I give the maximum amount of effort that I have every single day in whatever I’m doing. Some of this podcast is intended to explore the question of legacy—the question of, what’s the point of why we all do what we do? Why are we passionate about the things we’re passionate about? And why, for me, is there a relentless search for a better turn? I’m always searching to improve my skiing, and why am I still motivated after all these years?
Who’s your dream guest?
My number one dream guest would probably be Stephen Colbert, to talk about grief and loss. I’ve heard him talking about his own experience with grief. He is so eloquent. That’s a dream down the road.
You’re so open and honest with your fans. People appreciate that authenticity. Does that come easily to you?
I am open with fans because I don’t have enough capacity in my brain to create something else. I don’t have the ability to have a public persona. I can only manage to say what I’m thinking and to feel what I’m feeling. I try to remind myself to be positive and optimistic and kind, but otherwise, what you see is what you get. It allows me to be much more direct, much more effective, much more efficient with my own work, my training, and my growth throughout the rest of life.
You and Alex got engaged in April 2024. Anything you can share about your wedding plans?
To be honest, we haven’t gotten into planning at all. We’ve been so focused on racing, and we have had injuries. We just want to get back into the sport that we love and to be committed to the sport. It’s been hard the last couple years. Hopefully, after the Games, we’ll be able to start to have a little bit of a plan. At this point, we just want to spend more time together, period. With our lifestyles, training, and competing for different teams, we’re constantly traveling what seems to be farther away from each other. So our number one goal would be just to get as much time together as we can. The one thing that we’ve talked about is that we’d love it to be more of a celebration of the support system around us, versus a celebration of us. With the sport and our lives, it naturally works that Alex and I are constantly being celebrated. We would love to find a way to actually point that light toward the people that we love and the support systems around us.
We hear your mom, Eileen, recently bought a house in the Berkshires!
I am so excited about my mom’s new house. It felt really good even walking in the door the first time. And for my mom to have a true sanctuary, that’s really important. We love spending time in the Berkshires. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year. It reminds me so much of my younger days, going to Thanksgiving at Nana’s house, and all the family would get together. So it’s really incredible to have a place that can be there for all of our future generations.
Eileen has always been Mikaela’s mom first, coach second. Eileen learned to love skiing on Berkshire slopes and now owns a house on Pontoosuc Lake.
