Mikaela Shiffrin is such a hype queen, we must say! She isn’t just winning on snow but winning our hearts too. Proof? Well, do you remember when a certain Olympic rugby star posted on Twitter? Well, the said rugby player chose a different arena to showcase her skills, and it did not start as she wanted. Thus, the Paris bronze medalist wrote, “Love you all. I’m okay. Dancing is tough but I’ll keep working.” The fans jumped in to show their support, but in the middle of all those comments, there stood one special mention! With just two heart emojis, the 2-time Olympic gold winner won thousands of hearts! She pronounced for the world to see that the rugby star has all her support and love. Well, now she has done it again!

 Mikaela took to Twitter on March 11 to post a pic of them together and captioned it, “Met this absolute bada** and inspiration today at @adidas. Welcome to the three stripes fam, @ilona_maher!!💪🫶”. Well, from what Mikaela said, she is not at all in the wrong here. Ilona Maher is a certified queen and a perfect mix of being sassy and bold. And not just on the field. If anything, her way of life shows she is bold, fearless, taking risks, and standing up for herself and the women in general. Why did she have to do that? To promote body positivity and to keep reminding the world that women can do anything.

Appearing on Good Morning America in November 2024, she said, “You can be so much more than people put you in the box as. I’m an amazing athlete, and I’m a very strong athlete, but I also felt like through this I could show I’m a very beautiful dancer and elegant dancer.” Her point was, “I can also be smart and whatever else I want to be.” Maher has been using her popularity on social media, viz., around 5 million followers on Instagram, to spread her voice across the globe to uplift women. Strength is not just using your brute strength to bulldoze across a field in a rugby match. It is also to stand up for yourself and others when others have been trying to put limitations on you. 

But wait a minute! What brought the skier and the rugby player together? Well, it seems Ilona Maher is the latest to join the Adidas family. And she is being welcomed by none other than Mikaela Shiffrin herself. Mikaela has been with Adidas since August 2019, and not only that, she is also a brand ambassador for industry leaders. Who better to help guide Ilona as she joins the Adidas roster of superstar athletes? Being a popular figure herself, Ilona will probably also play the same role in rugby.

Now coming back to what Mikaela posted, it looks like they were in an Adidas office where they worked out the contracts and negotiations. We can’t say where the event took place exactly, but as per one of the fan comments, it might be the Oregon HQ. Mikaela was seen standing casually with Ilona as both the icons seemed to be sharing a good laugh about something. Mikaela was wearing an Adidas tank top with the brand logo prominently displayed in black on the front. With it, she sported black track pants with white stripes down the sides. She was looking like the most casually stylish person one could be.

And Ilona was in a varsity-style black and white jacket. It has the number 2 on it. A backstory, maybe yes. If you remember, Ilona Maher wore the number 2 Team USA jersey at the Paris Olympics, and the team won bronze too. Well, we can say that ‘2’ on the jacket was a nod to her Paris stint. Coming back to the event, she paired the jacket with black pants with three white stripes towards the bottom and a white t-shirt. 

While Ilona has been hyped by Mikaela Shiffrin again, is it only the Bristol Bears player who gets the Ski Queen’s love and support? Well, the skier has always come in support when needed to back her fellow athletes.

Mikaela Shiffrin loves celebrating the stars who make their sports spectacular 

If you entertain Mikaela, she’s going to talk about it. She is a fangirl. She was there in Paris during the Olympics to provide her support for the US athletes, and she was especially looking forward to a meeting with gymnastics supremo Simone Biles. And the dream duo had their first meet! Mikaela shared how the meeting went, “We sat and talked for quite a while, and talking about everything. Of course, her experience in [Tokyo] and comparing our experiences with the Olympics, but also just competing and the expectations that people have when they anticipate you’re going to win everything – just the sort of similarities in that mentality.”

And for Shiffrin, it is not just about connecting. It is about looking out for each other, strengthening one another, and staying together as a community. She said back in October 2024 about supporting female athletes, “In general, it’s interacting with people who are doing their best in whatever they do. Female athletes, women in business, it’s important that we just empower each other.” Continuing, she said, “No matter who we are or what our background is or what we do, it’s that we’re all supportive of each other and help each other try to be successful.”

Mikaela wants to win, no doubt. But she wants women to be winners in their own field, whichever arena they compete in. And she loves seeing women on the podium: “It’s incredible to support other women in sports and see them be successful.”