Mikaela Shiffrin made history last season as she broke Ingemar Stenmark’s record for most Alpine skiing World Cup wins in history. The 28-year-old will be looking for more success as the new season gets started, and has spoken about her admiration for tennis star Iga Swiatek, who she expects to return to world No. 1. Shiffrin has also revealed what she hopes to improve on over the next few months.
Mikaela Shiffrin has praised Iga Swiatek’s “unbeatable mentality” and is impressed with how the four-time Grand Slam champion carries herself at the age of 22.
Tennis star Swiatek has been the standout player on the WTA Tour over the last two years, spending 75 straight weeks as world No. 1 before losing top spot in September.
Shiffrin has also become the dominant force in her sport, Alpine skiing, and last season broke Ingemar Stenmark’s record for most World Cup wins in history.
Swiatek and Shiffrin have connected over the last few years, including ahead of the 2023 Laureus World Sports Awards when they were both nominated for Sportswoman of the Year.
Asked about Swiatek’s career accomplishments as she prepares for the start of the 2023/24 Alpine season, Shriffin said: “I don’t know if she feels this way, but what I see is…modesty – but then a security in herself that you don’t often see with athletes so young that also have the success.
“I didn’t know who the heck I was – I still kind of don’t – and somehow she just seems like she has certain things that are straight in her head. The answers she has now, already in her career, I wish I had those at that time in mine.”
Shiffrin also said she expects Swiatek to reclaim the world No. 1 ranking from Aryna Sabalenka.
“What I said to her is, ‘Whatever, that’s coming back,” said Shiffrin about Swiatek losing top spot.
“It’s the mentality that you have that’s unbeatable, so just keep going.”
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Earlier this year Shiffrin was named on TIME’s “100 Most Influential People” list of 2023.
Asked what that meant to her, Shiffrin said: “That kind of recognition is actually pretty hard for me to understand or fathom.
“There’s people in the world who are doing much greater things than I am. And for me, it’s just inspiring to see how they manage themselves, how they put themselves out there, and how they fight for incredible things.”
Shriffin will soon be starting her 2023/24 campaign, looking to add to her 88 World Cup wins.
The new season gets under way in Soelden, Austria on October 28.
Looking ahead to the new campaign, Shriffin said she doesn’t have any specific goals, but has a few areas she wants to work on.
“I would like to maybe, ideally, improve my downhill performance a little bit more, but that doesn’t really mean winning,” Shiffrin said. “It’s just improving the skills that I think have fundamental but can get better.
“Also, super-G, as well. And then with slalom and GS, the coolest thing for me last season was I felt a consistency with my skiing and my mentality that I never really felt before. So that was just exciting to go into each race feeling pretty excited to actually race.
“So hopefully, a big goal is to try and keep that mentality going.”
