⛷️ Mikaela Shiffrin is not just starting a new ski season; she is launching the countdown to the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games. For the most decorated skier in World Cup history, this year carries an immense dual purpose: reclaiming her elite consistency after a challenging injury and meticulously building a foundation for her next Olympic medal haul. Her mindset? “Motivated but realistic.”
This measured perspective is a direct reflection of the physical and mental hurdles she faced last season following a severe abdominal injury sustained in a giant slalom crash. That incident, which she described as causing a “mind-body disconnect” and even post-traumatic stress, forced her to confront the sport’s high-risk nature. While her trademark technical events, like slalom, saw her return to winning form quickly—even achieving her historic 100th World Cup victory—the Giant Slalom course remained a battleground.
The Step-by-Step Approach
The road to Olympic success, she acknowledges, must now be paved with caution and precision, not solely ambition. She admits that she is currently “not at winning speed” in certain disciplines, and her overall fitness and comfort level in high-speed maneuvers are still “a work in progress.”
This honesty is liberating. Recognizing that she can’t physically or mentally afford to chase every discipline, Shiffrin has strategically refined her focus. While Super-G remains a possibility, the demands of Downhill racing are likely off the table for the immediate future. This allows her to double down on the technical events—Slalom and Giant Slalom—where she is historically dominant and where her focus on precision is most effective.
The Power of the Process
The goal of winning a sixth overall World Cup title is still a “beautiful thing to dream about,” but Shiffrin is prioritizing the process over the outcome. She’s concentrating on incremental improvements in every training run, embracing the “step-by-step” mentality. This resilience—this ability to find confidence not just in podium finishes but in tiny technical victories—is what defines a champion in a crucial pre-Olympic year.
For Shiffrin, 2026 is less about erasing past disappointment and more about showing up as the most secure, confident version of herself. By starting the season with her sights set firmly on attainable, realistic goals, Shiffrin is ensuring that when the Olympic flame lights up in Cortina, she will be ready to perform her best skiing, no matter the conditions or the pressure.