Winter Olympics 2026: Mikaela Shiffrin embraces “pressure” ahead of her fourth Olympics

Milano Cortina 2026 might be her fourth Olympic Winter Games, but for Mikaela Shiffrin it still feels like the first.

“I'm feeling pretty excited to be here, which is not surprising,” the two-time Olympic alpine skiing gold medallist said when she met the press at a media event organised by VISA in Cortina d'Ampezzo on Saturday (7 February).

“I’ve been to four different Games and they’ve been four wildly different experiences . And with those experiences, being able to show up to Cortina and still be wide-eyed and just as excited and motivated as the first is really great.”

The 30-year-old plans to compete in three events, starting with the team event on Tuesday (10 February), a competition she’s looking forward to after winning gold at last year’s World Championships in Saalbach along with Breezy Johnson.

“I would be honoured to race with any single one of my teammates. I'm in a really wonderful, lucky position to be able to do the event. There are some nations who are not even able to race the event because they don't have good speed skiers. I'm grateful to have this opportunity with anybody, and that's really up to the coaches.”

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Shiffrin achieved her 108th World Cup win in the Špindlerův Mlýn slalom on 25 January and has since trained in Austria and Italy, juggling her favourite discipline with giant slalom. In the latter event in particular, she’s pleased with the progress she has made.

“It's pretty spectacular to have my first World Cup podium again after two years, and certainly since the injury at Killington. So it's been really exciting,” she said, speaking about her recent third-place finish in Czechia.

“To have my first World Cup podium again and to be consistently in the top five, top six, top 10's this World Cup season is certainly a motivating factor.”

Quoting Billie Jean King and Nelson Mandela

Shiffrin is aware that the exposure at the Olympics is greater than during the World Cup season, but she is happy to accept the pressure that comes with it.

“The Olympics give us the chance to showcase ourselves and our sport to the world. And so whether you're watching once every four years or every single weekend on the World Cup, to have the chance to make that connection at all, I think is a gift,” she said.

“And I really choose to believe that's a beautiful gift, Despite maybe feeling a little bit of pressure at times, I know that judgments can be made from a sole moment when so much else has gone on over the last four years or eight years or 16 years of my career.

“So pressure can exist. But like [tennis legend] Billie Jean King said, pressure is a privilege, and that doesn't always feel that way. But right now, it really does feel like a privilege. I'm grateful for that.”

The Olympics, concluded Shiffrin, are also an opportunity to come together, reflecting on the unifying power of sport.

The U.S. skier cited the message of peace from Nelson Mandela, shared by Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron during the Opening Ceremony, and added: “I'm really hoping to show up and represent my own values, values of inclusivity, values of diversity, and kindness.

“I'm really thankful to be here and my greatest hope for this Olympic Games, from a broader perspective, is that it is a beautiful show of co-operation and of competition.”

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