These were no ordinary nerves. If she won, it would be a huge record-breaking moment. She’d be the winningest Alpine skier of all time, beating the current record holder—a man named Ingemar Stenmark. It was such a big deal that even he was cheering for her.

Mikaela rolled her head right and left, feeling not only the psychological weight of her dreams, but the actual weight of her helmet, too. It was emblazoned with the letters ABFTTB, after something one of Mikaela’s ski racing heroes had once written on a poster for her.

“Always Be Faster Than the Boys,” she’d written. Below it was Mikaela’s family motto: “Be nice. Think first. Have fun.” Just like her dad used to say.

Mikaela tapped her poles together, once, twice, three times. She narrowed her eyes and her focus, visualizing the finish line. Then, she was off! She flew down the mountain on her skis, the exhilarating rush of the winter wind whipping against her face.

This was a slalom race. Mikaela executed quick, tight turns down the mountain, her shins tapping each of the slalom gates as she went. Click, swish, click, swish. She descended the mountain in less than two minutes, and then… it was over. She’d done it! The win and the title were hers!

Amid the jubilant cries around her, Mikaela folded onto the ground, burying her head against her knees. She felt a mix of elation and relief. Before she spoke to reporters, before she saw her family, she needed this one moment to catch her breath. And then they announced it: Mikaela Shiffrin, the Greatest Alpine Skier of All Time.

A fairy tale podcast about the real-life rebel women who inspire us.

On this episode, Mikaela Shiffrin: Alpine skier, world record holder, and resilient leader.

“No pizza!” her dad called after her. Mikaela scowled, straightening her skis and fixing her form. Her parents grew up as ski racers themselves, and they knew what good technique looked like. If she fussed, her dad would jokingly call her “Princess No.” Stubborn and resilient, that was Mikaela.

When Mikaela was four years old, she got to ski down her first actual mountain. She’d been waiting a long time for this moment, so it felt extra good to zip down through the fresh powder. It felt good, that is, until, slip, twist, crash! Mikaela plunged headfirst into a pile of snow. The powder buried her completely!

She kicked her legs in the air, trying to wiggle out. When her dad lifted her free, he asked if she wanted to go home. “Nooo!” shouted Princess No. She couldn’t give up now! She was going again.

When her family wasn’t skiing, Mikaela and her brother would pedal around their neighborhood on a unicycle, taking turns climbing on, tumbling off, and bouncing back, giggling all the while. As they played, their balance improved. Mikaela was honing her ski skills year round.

By 11 years old, Mikaela was considered an Alpine skiing prodigy. She competed mostly in slalom and giant slalom, but had plans to one day branch out into Super-G and downhill. She moved to Vermont to attend the famed Burke Mountain Academy, where she trained up to five hours a day, five days a week, in icier conditions than she had back home in Colorado.

Skidding down the East Coast mountain for the first time, Mikaela felt out of control—it was like skiing on an ice-skating rink compared to the racing conditions she was used to! But, like her parents taught her, the hard way was the right way. Skiing on icy slopes was giving her experience in different settings, and she was surrounded by other incredible athletes.

It was a winning combination—at age eighteen, the first of many dreams came true. Mikaela was headed to Sochi, Russia, to compete in her first Olympic games.

Now, her technique was so precise that she could stay in control with her hips only inches above the snow. The further she leaned, the tighter her turns were. And the tighter her turns were, the faster she went.

On her second run, Mikaela started off strong. Then, halfway down the mountain, she started to wobble. One leg shot out of alignment. It happened so fast that Mikaela didn’t have time to think— but she’d trained so long and hard that she didn’t need to. Almost automatically, Mikaela shifted her weight to her other leg, skiing on that side alone for the fraction of a second it took to recover her balance. Then, she got her second leg back under her, and she knew she had it. She sailed down the mountain, confident and controlled, and when she got to the bottom she had the fastest time of anyone.

“I almost fell over!” Mikaela gasped, laughing in disbelief.

Even with her wobble, Mikaela won the gold medal, and became the youngest Olympic slalom champion in history!

When she mounted the Olympic podium, she was beaming as bright as the medal around her neck. Later she’d say it had all been a blur—the race, the ceremony, all of it.

What she did remember was that her father was the first person she hugged after she won. His arms tightened around her, squeezing with all his fierce love and pride. All of their wildest dreams were coming true.

Still, her country was relying on her to bring home gold at the Beijing Olympics. In fact, she was expected to bring home more golds in a single Olympics than any American skier had done before. So Mikaela flew to China, trying to rally herself to get back into the Olympic mindset and compete.

When she arrived on competition day, standing at the top of the mountain, she couldn’t see the finish line clearly. There was fog in the air… and in her head. Her years of preparation didn’t take over like they usually did. She wiped out on her Slalom run, icy snowflakes flying up to bite her as she hit the ground. Then she wiped out again in the Giant slalom, the snow flying up around her, blurring out the world. She sat on the snow, not knowing if she could get up. But then, she did. She tried one more time, but failed to finish in the combined race as well. By then, there was no way she would win a medal, let alone the multiple golds everyone had expected.

Afterwards, everyone wanted to know what happened. Sometimes, Mikaela would answer with a media-savvy sound byte, explaining it all away. But, other times, Mikaela would answer from her heart.

“The real truth is…I don’t know.” She said. Then later added, “I’m not at peace with it. The whole thing about the ‘I don’t knows’ in life is that it’s not a peaceful thing to feel. It’s incredibly uncomfortable, and so much of what I do as an athlete is uncertain.”

After her dad died, it wasn’t just the losing that was hard—winning could be, too. When Mikaela broke that World Cup record, she was thrilled. But, immediately, she felt the absence of her dad. He had always been there, cheering on her wins and pushing her forward to the next one. Now, Mikaela was going to have to look inside herself and find the motivation to continue, to enjoy her sport and rise to her own challenges.

In time, Mikaela came to understand that she wasn’t going to get over the grief of losing her father. It was always going to be with her. But, she could find things to look forward to to keep her going. There wasn’t a straight solution that could make her feel better— grief was a zig-zag, like the slalom she knew so well.

“To me, resiliency is the ability to experience something really difficult—hardship, pain, struggle—to experience that, and to get to the other side of it, holding on to some form of strength or purpose,” Mikaela said.

She started a foundation in her father’s name, the Jeff Shiffrin Resiliency Fund, to help athletes afford the high costs of competing. And before long, she was enjoying the thrill of skiing and adding to her collection of gold medals once again.

Things have been going well in other parts of Mikaela’s life too. She got engaged to a fellow skier, and in 2023, she won an ESPY award for the Best Athlete in Women’s Sports. In her acceptance speech, she said, “Through failure and through success, it’s been a long journey, and it’s not over yet.” Mikaela is headed to her fourth Olympics in winter 2026.

She finished her acceptance speech by putting her extraordinary, record-breaking career in perspective. “There was a lot of talk about records, and it got me thinking… it’s not important to break records or reset records. It’s important to set the tone for the next generation, to inspire them.”

And, as fans all over the world will attest, that’s exactly what she does! Mikaela inspires through her resilience and dedication, giving back to support the community of the sport she loves the most. And she carries her loved ones in her heart with her every day, on every plane ride, every training workout, and flying down every snowy mountain.

This podcast is a production of Rebel Girls. It’s based on the book series Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls.

This episode was narrated by ME, Kristi Leskinen. It was produced and directed by Haley Dapkus, with sound design and mixing by Mumble Media.

The story was written by Nicole Haroutunian. Fact checking by Rose Garrett. Our intern was Arianna Griffiths. Our executive producers were Joy Smith and Jes Wolfe.

Original theme music was composed and performed by Elettra Bargiacchi.

A special thanks to Mikaela Shiffrin and the whole Rebel Girls team, who made this podcast possible! Until next time, staaaay rebel!