Mikaela Shiffrin is one of the greatest skiers to ever grace the sport. Her three Olympic medals and 14 World Championship medals are absolutely a testament to this. She also has 99 victories to her name in the Ski World Cup, which is the most in history by anyone. Mikaela’s most recent victory came in Levi, as she won the race in 1 minute 40.22 seconds.

Levi has always been a place where Mikaela has been dominant. In fact, this was her eighth victory in the place. While there may be numerous reasons for this, one of them is possibly the prize they hand out to the winner of the competition: a reindeer. As the animal is a huge part of the Finnish culture, they are presented to the champion as a piece of the place they were participating in, which is how Mikaela got her eight reindeer this year.

However, the animals do not go home with the skiers, as it is very difficult to nurture them properly with all the duties they have involving the sport. Instead, they stay in Levi itself, on a farm called “Ounasklevari.” They are taken care of properly according to their needs. This year, Mikaela Shiffrin decided to pay a visit to her herd on the farm and see how they’re doing.

In an Instagram post uploaded on November 25th, she talked about how numerous fans have asked her over the years about the whereabouts of her reindeers. Mikaela Shiffrin then revealed that they do not live with her but on the farm itself, where the skiers can visit them annually. “I’ve never actually had the chance to visit them, but finally this year I had the opportunity to go see my herd together with my family🥰🫶.” In the video, she was seen greeting the reindeers and then feeding them. This led her to make a hilarious observation. “Turns out, reindeer are nearly as food-motivated as I am🤪” she said.

It was a great sight to see Mikaela visit all these animals, as they’re a huge part of her legacy. Each one represents a championship she won in Levi, and she is the only one who has a full herd. She values these animals too, as she had put in a lot of effort in exercising her right to name them.

Names of all the reindeers Mikaela Shiffrin has won

Mikaela Shiffrin has named all eight reindeers she won with quite a bit of effort. Every single one of their names has a meaning based on pop culture or just her life experiences. The very first one she won in 2013 was called Rudolf after the famous Christmas Carol. It would take three years for her to win another one.

Then came the second one, which Mikaela won in 2016, which was named Sven. It was named after a character from the kids movie Frozen. After this, the third came in 2018, and she called the reindeer on another character from a movie. It was called Mr. Gru from the Despicable Me series. Thus, it seemed that she has a huge interest in pop culture. However, the fourth reindeer’s name, which she won in the very next year, had a deeper meaning.

It was called Ingemar, in the name of the Swedish skiing legend and also Mikaela Shiffrin’s idol. She would keep this trend as she named her fifth reindeer Sunny after her teammate Ava Sunshine. The sixth reindeer would perhaps be most special to her, as she named him after her late father, and he called it Lorax. As for the seventh reindeer, Mikaela decided to ask her followers. After many suggestions, Grogu was the name they settled on after the character from the Mandalorian.

Finally, the last of the new members of the herd will be Rori. This animal has been named after the phenomenon Aurora Borealis, which she first saw in Levi. Thus, Mikaela has now all the animals to visit each year, which she built up through her efforts of winning titles at Levi. She will now be hoping to get a cash prize instead in North America if she wins her 100th race at the Ski World Cup.