Shiffrin, Mikaela Pauline (1995-…), is a champion American Alpine skier. Shiffrin won the slalom gold medal at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, making her the youngest slalom champion in Olympic history. In 2018, she won the giant slalom gold medal and the combined silver medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. She also won the slalom World Championship in 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019; the super G World Championship in 2019; the combined World Championship in 2021; and the giant slalom World Championship in 2023. Shiffrin has won more World Championship titles (7) than any other American skier.
The slalom, giant slalom, and super G are also three of the skiing events that make up the Alpine World Cup. World Cup titles are awarded annually to the men and women who have won the most points in a series of races in each event (see Skiing (Alpine competitions)). Shiffrin initially concentrated on the slalom and giant slalom. She won the World Cup slalom title in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023, and 2024. In 2019 and 2023, she also won the World Cup giant slalom title. In 2016, she began competing in the downhill and super G events. Shiffrin won the World Cup super G title in 2019. She won the overall World Cup title in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2023 for earning the most combined points in all the events. In 2022, Shiffrin won her 47th World Cup slalom race, setting the record for most career World Cup victories in a single event. In 2023, Shiffrin won her 87th World Cup race, breaking Swedish skier Ingemar Stenmark’s record for most career World Cup victories.
Shiffrin was born on March 13, 1995, in Vail, Colorado. She began skiing at the age of 3. Her family moved to New Hampshire when she was 8. Shiffrin graduated in 2013 from Burke Mountain Academy in Vermont, a high school for young skiers. In 2011, she made her World Cup debut at the age of 15, winning the bronze medal at Lienz, Austria. Later that year, at the age of 16, she won the slalom title at the United States National Championships in Winter Park, Colorado. She thus became the youngest skier to win that event. In 2012, she won her first World Cup race and was named World Cup Rookie of the Year.
