Mikaela Shiffrin reflects on pressure and perception heading into her fourth Olympics after a tough Beijing and a long return

Mikaela Shiffrin arrived at her fourth Olympics with a familiar mix of calm focus and heavy context: a sport that measures success in hundredths, and a global stage that can reshape a reputation in minutes. Four years after a bruising Beijing Games, the American star has been blunt about how Olympic results can distort public perception—while also insisting she keeps coming back because racing still feels like a “gift,” not a burden.

With the Milano Cortina Winter Games underway, Shiffrin’s message is less about rewriting the past than refusing to be defined by one chapter. She has spent the build-up balancing ambition with realism, and competition with the mental load that comes with being one of the sport’s most recognizable faces.

The weight of Beijing still lingers

Shiffrin left Beijing 2022 without a medal, a result that shocked viewers who hadn’t followed the full arc of her career. In the years since, she has pointed to how quickly a single Olympic fortnight can become the shorthand for an athlete’s story—especially for casual audiences who only tune in during the Games.

What frustrates her isn’t scrutiny itself. It’s the idea that the Olympics can become the only reference point, overshadowing seasons of dominance on the sport’s week-to-week circuit. She has acknowledged that those judgments come with the territory, and that the visibility of the Olympics is part of what makes them special—and uniquely demanding.

Pressure, perception, and choosing to show up anyway

Shiffrin has described the pressure as a price she willingly pays: the privilege of skiing on the biggest stage alongside the reality that the spotlight magnifies every mistake. She has also been candid about how stress is not a stranger—she lives with it in ordinary life, not just on race day.

At the same time, she has emphasized that the skiing itself can be the antidote. When she’s locked into the rhythm of turns and gates, the noise quiets. That distinction—pressure outside the start gate, clarity inside it—has become central to how she frames this Olympic return.

A long return shaped by setbacks and recovery

Her path back to the Games also includes a difficult physical stretch. A serious crash in 2024 changed how she approached certain events, particularly giant slalom, and extended the mental recovery that often follows an injury in a high-speed sport. She has spoken about fear as something to manage, not deny, and about the challenge of finding the right line between caution and conviction.

That context matters because Olympic narratives tend to flatten time: athletes look “back” to the last Olympics and “ahead” to the next, skipping the months of rehab, retraining, and rebuilding confidence. For Shiffrin, the work between Beijing and this winter is the story—one built on patience, incremental progress, and recalibrated expectations.

Form entering Milano Cortina

The competitive reality is that Shiffrin didn’t arrive as a question mark. She entered the Olympics in strong form and has been at or near the top of the World Cup standings this season, with slalom again serving as her most reliable weapon. She has also taken on a broader program than just one event, adding layers of strategic and mental complexity to an already intense fortnight.

Her approach has been to keep goals specific and controllable: skiing the line she intends, committing to the plan, and accepting that outcomes at the Olympics are often decided by tiny margins and high variance. That mindset is partly defensive—insurance against the “one-run defines you” trap—but it is also practical in a sport where perfection is never guaranteed.

What she wants this Olympics to represent

Beyond results, Shiffrin has used her platform to talk about values—team culture, inclusion, and the idea that representing a country can be emotionally complicated in a polarized moment. She has framed her role less as a spokesperson and more as a teammate trying to embody the kind of environment she believes sport should encourage.

That framing doesn’t erase the competitive stakes. It’s a way to widen the lens: to place medals in a larger personal narrative rather than letting medals write it. For Shiffrin, the forward-looking goal is straightforward—race well, stay present, and allow this Olympics to be its own event, not a referendum on Beijing.

• Key takeaways: Shiffrin is treating Olympic pressure as real but manageable, rejecting the idea that one Games defines an entire career, and leaning on strong recent form while acknowledging the lasting impact of injury and disappointment.

Sources consulted: Reuters, Associated Press, TIME, Olympics.com