Mikaela Shiffrin reveals main motivation behind continuing her career despite major injury last season

Mikaela Shiffrin has opened up about her motivation for continuing her skiing career despite enduring a serious injury last season. During the downhill race at the 2023 World Cup in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, she suffered a severe crash, spraining the medial collateral and tibiofibular ligaments in her knee, forcing her to withdraw from the next 11 races.

The American returned to the sport in March 2024, winning the slalom title in Åre, Sweden.

In an interview with Eurosport, the legendary skier shared her motivation to continue the sport, saying she is yet to reach her full potential. She further referred to her quest for improvement as an "addiction".

"Right now, it's a couple of things, but my main motivation is that I feel like I have more to give to the sport," Mikaela Shiffrin said. "I just have more in my body that I can ski faster or fix my technique a little bit, just improve things here and there. So it's like, I'm not finished with what I want to give and what I want to get from the sport. And that's like, with wins aside, it's just how I feel on the mountain.

I'm always interested to see, like if I make one improvement today, can I get even better tomorrow? And that's just like addiction for me."

Shiffrin holds the record for most World Cup wins with 97.

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Mikaela Shiffrin on her role in promoting the sport - "I can be a big part of bringing more people to watch"

Mikaela Shiffrin during the first run at the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup in Lienz, Austria. (Photo by Getty Images)

Mikaela Shiffrin has collected three Olympic medals, two golds in slalom and giant slalom, and a silver in the combined event.

In her interview with Eurosport, Shiffrin said that despite her illustrious career, she views her role in skiing as not only about her performance but also about promoting the sport, acknowledging her place in the skiing realm as pivotal to attracting fans.

"Beyond that, it's also to see how much, like, I'm in an interesting point in my career where I can be a big part of bringing more people to watch the sport and be excited about it," she said.

"Hopefully, that's the purpose, is like, with all the competitors we have right now, there's really interesting personalities. There's really great competitions, and I love to be part of that and hopefully help people want to experience and know sports as well. So that's kind of the other part of the goal."

Shiffrin will next compete on October 26, 2024, in Sölden, Austria.