Mikaela Shiffrin has done the unthinkable. The Team USA ski veteran is now a single win shy of hitting her FIS World Cup century and, oh boy, what a historic achievement would that be! Shiffrin is already a champion in our eyes, even if she hasn’t officially claimed the title until her next victory. And that is of the undisputed slalom specialist.

The recent pitstop in Gurgl saw Mikaela Shiffrin bag her 99th win in a World Cup race, leaving the rising stars, Lara Colturi and Camille Rast in the dust. With this, Shiffrin has now ticked off the box of having won all 4 slaloms that she’s competed in since she made a comeback from her knee injury last season. But this sounds way simpler than it actually was for the skier.

Mikaela Shiffrin’s 99th win came at a lofty price

In a combined time of 1:40.22 seconds, Mikaela Shiffrin ensured she tasted victory at the Diamond of the Alps, which, by the way, marked the 154th time she’s ever graced an Alpine World Cup podium. However, the only thing unusual this time was how she felt the nerves.

Indeed, post-race, Mikaela Shiffrin confessed she was under the pump all the way. “I was really nervous on the top. I could hear all the women going down and their teams were cheering and that always means they had a really good run. And it was getting darker and I was like ‘sh*t, I don’t think it’s happening today,” she opened up on how her mind was getting bothered by the surroundings.

It’s notable she now has 62 World Cup slalom wins in her name, a record number, as well as 21 victories from the 24 slalom races she’s had in Austria. This attests she’s neither new to the event nor the slope. But even with such extensive experience behind her, particularly in Slalom races, Shiffrin admitted she was getting the jitters minutes before the race, which is surprising.

But, one thing is sure. Mikaela Shiffrin is a great advocate of how it’s okay to be vulnerable. In one episode of her Adidas series from 2023, she’d taken a stand for how “We’re starting to create a norm that makes it okay to be vulnerable. People will learn to know that like, the human factor, the human element of sports comes with the entertainment side of it.” Also, while she is not immune to self-doubt, Shiffrin sure knows how to wear it lightly.

Shiffrin’s victory celebrations ft. Taylor Swift

Mikaela Shiffrin may have felt nervous for a bit, but once she got on with the race, all her doubts vanished into thin air. In fact, she channeled her best skills to tackle the slope, which was a rather tricky one. She admitted, “It’s a pretty strange surface, like cold and dry. It’s hard to be clean on the skis. But in the end, I kept pushing forward and stayed on top of it.”

Thus, having conquered both these battles, Mikaela Shiffrin had every reason to celebrate. And it turns out, she’s got a plan chalked out for that. She initially played it cool, saying her celebration would involve getting to the airport as soon as possible. But later, she switched her answer, giving us a hint of what she was actually going to do.

The skier then joked, “I answered a Q after the race today about celebration and my answer was so boring… Like blah blah, don’t have time, blah, strength, blahhhh driving to the airport…” However, the Swiftie in her couldn’t resist admitting, “Should have said how I was actually planning to have a 3h @taylorswift concert the whole drive.” 

Now that’s a victory playlist, don’t you think? Let us know your take on this below!