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American alpine skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin is inarguably one of the greatest skiers of our time. With two Olympic gold medals to her name, Shiffrin was unable to medal this year at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
However, she has been performing phenomenally in the Alpine Ski World Cup and is at the top of the standings. Even though she is neck-and-neck with Slovakian competitor Petra Vlhova in the World Cup, Mikaela took the time out for a special trip around the world.
Yesterday, on March 13, Mikaela Shiffrin celebrated her birthday. She shares her birthday with another young American athlete on the path to greatness, Coco Gauff. In that vein, here is how Mikaela surprised Coco Gauff on her birthday with a very special gift.

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Mikaela Shiffrin flew around the world for Coco Gauff’s birthday gift

To celebrate Coco Gauff’s eighteenth birthday, Mikaela Shiffrin had a very special surprise in mind. “I want to do something special for my fellow sportswoman Coco, who’s turning eighteen,” Mikaela said on Instagram.

Both Mikaela and Coco are brand ambassadors for the world’s largest pasta producer, Barilla. Thus, Mikaela revealed how Coco had told her about her love for pasta pesto. “I know that she loves pasta pesto,” Mikaela said. In fact, Cori ‘Coco’ Gauff “still talks about how she dreams about the perfect version that she had in Italy”.

 

 

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Hence, Mikaela realized the perfect idea for Gauff’s birthday present. “Since you only turn eighteen once, I figured why not make that dream come true?” Shiffrin said.

So, Mikaela flew all the way to Italy to grab the perfect, authentic ingredients for Coco’s dream pasta. Once there, she first enjoyed a nice cup of tea before grabbing a bunch of fresh basil leaves. Then, she visited a cheese warehouse to grab a chunk of the best pesto cheese.

DIVE DEEPER: WATCH: Fans From All Around the World Makes Mikaela Shiffrin’s 27th Birthday Special With a Heartwarming Gesture

After that, Mikaela visited the local Barilla store for the rest of the ingredients, including the pasta. Once done, she was back in the air headed home.

Mikaela delivered the perfect pasta ingredients to Coco Gauff’s door

Furthermore, the basket of ingredients for the perfect Italian pasta pesto for Coco that Mikaela prepared had a note for Coco, too.

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When at the Barilla store in Italy, Barilla added a special note for Coco in the basket of ingredients. “Happy birthday, Coco! A special pesto for the best-o!” the note read.

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With all said and done, Mikaela rolled over to Coco Gauff’s doorstep and hand-delivered the basket of Talian goodness for the newly-turned eighteen-year-old tennis sensation.

WATCH THIS STORY: Who is the Richest Winter Olympian? Shaun White, Lindsey Vonn, Mikaela Shiffrin, and Others’ Net Worth Comparison

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As it turned out, Coco herself had a beautiful birthday present ready for Mikaela, and the two embraced and exchanged gifts.

Undoubtedly, Mikaela put a lot of thought and a whole lot more effort into making Coco Gauff’s eighteenth birthday all the more special.