In Bustle’s The Pregame, we ask women athletes about their pregame rituals. What are their must-haves for training? How do they get in the zone? Here, alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin talks about getting ready to risk it all on the slopes.
If you ask Mikaela Shiffrin, she’s “generally pretty risk-averse.” She drives the speed limit. And yet, the alpine ski racer regularly whizzes down slopes at 70+ mph.
“I can throw myself down a mountain with razor blades on my feet,” the 30-year-old tells Bustle. “It’s a pretty special feeling when you can harness that energy and sort of turn it into a gas pedal.”
With two former racers as parents, Shiffrin was already on skis at age 3. Still, no one was prepared for her unprecedented success. “It was never a given that I would become a World Cup racer, win World Cups or win Olympic medals,” she says. “That was never something I really expected or even really anticipated.”
Her philosophy has led to 101 World Cup wins since 2012 — more than any other alpine skier in history. While competing away from home, Shiffrin says that support from loved ones is essential for success.
“The truth is that one of the most challenging things about being in the Games is how isolating it can be if you don’t have the people you love there,” Shiffrin says.
That’s why she’s joined Comcast’s roster of Xfinity athletes leading up to the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics in February. With Xfinity as the official communications service provider of Team USA, Shiffrin says athletes will “know their family and friends back home can watch and have the best coverage, no matter their broadcaster.”
Here, she talks about trying to qualify for her fourth Winter Games and her holistic approach to wellness in one of the most extreme sports in the world.
You travel all around the globe for competitions. What do you typically like to wear while flying?
I like to wear glorified pajamas, something that sort of looks put together but I can sleep in on a dime. I’m really into the sweat suit combos these days, looking like Sue Sylvester a little bit.
So between all the travel and, of course, the sport itself being hard on your body, what are your must-haves for training, recovery, and staying energized?
I mean key-key is sleep and nutrition. Staying as hydrated as possible is important, especially if you’re traveling across several time zones, or really for more than a two-hour flight.
And then, for me, the most important recovery method that I use, and have always used, is sleep. I try to nap every day.
You also deal with a lot of sun and wind exposure. What do you do for skin care? Any products that you swear by?
SPF — I don’t think that’s news to anybody, but always wearing sunscreen. I love the Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer, which has SPF in it, and I swear by face oils for hydration. My face does the very, very best when it’s uber-hydrated, sometimes kind of sweaty-looking.
As soon as I get off the hill, I do a good cleanse, and then a really proper hydration ritual, like whatever vitamin C serum or hyaluronic acid. Even if I do nothing else, I’ll put on face oils. I love Eminence. They have some really good products. And also there’s a company called Romi Apothecary, and they have this seasonal face oil called Queen of the Winter. When I started using that several years ago, my tone was the clearest and cleanest, and I stopped breaking out nearly as much.
When you’re getting ready for a race, how do you get in the zone?
Music helps me regulate my emotions when I’m too nervous to do it myself. I need to go through my pump-up race-day playlist and revamp it a little bit, probably put some of the new Taylor Swift on there.
Which Life of a Showgirl songs will you add?
I think probably “Ruin the Friendship” would be number one. It’s obviously sad a little bit, but also, the sort of double meaning about taking risks is kind of good for a race mentality. It’s like, “OK, here we go. Let’s go for it.”
Other than that, I do warmups like body weight squats, work with a band, and core work, trying to keep my body as warm and loose and limber as possible.
What’s next for you as you gear up for the 2026 Olympics?
The next couple weeks will be a lot of travel. We have racing in Finland and then back in Austria, and then we head to the U.S. for those Copper [Mountain] races, and we’ll be racing basically every single weekend right up into Milano Cortina. I’m excited to get it going.
How does the pressure of an Olympic season compare to other years?
The biggest thing, especially for American athletes, is the hype and attention around the Games. You get so many more eyes on your story and your success or your failures and everything in between.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
