When I'm in the starting gate, it's just me and the hill.
Mikaela Shiffrin
Things you don't expect come up, and you have to adapt. You can't let it throw you off. You have to cope. Those are all really valuable skills, in life and racing.
A perfect day for me would just be a day that goes the way I plan.
If you strive toward the perfect run, accepting that you will always come up short of that is very intriguing. It makes me think about how in life in general, we always want to strive toward perfection, but sometimes perfection would be the worst thing.
Pasta is my superfood! Balance and moderation are the basis for my diet, though, so I also make sure to incorporate plenty of protein, fruits, and veggies throughout the day.
I think it's good to stimulate your mind.
Dream big, but don't be upset if it doesn't happen.
I have never limited myself by focusing much on being a 'normal' teenager.
I just have tried to adapt to the constant changes that happen all the time in my schedule and try and find any sort of mini-predictability and balance within my very unpredictable life.
I've had a lot of people tell me, 'Yeah, sure, you're good at slalom, but wait till you get to the real events like downhill or super-G.' I don't like hearing that.
You have to have the brain to conceptualize technique and apply it to your body.
Whether it's learning to hit a backhand in tennis, learning high school chemistry, or getting better at ski racing, I really believe with hard work and analytic preparation, you can skip a few steps and find the faster way.
If I leave any legacy behind, it's just the idea, just the theory that you admit to your ambitions, and you don't let people tell you you're wrong to have those ambitions.
You can't ever make the perfect run, but you can make the best run, and then you clock the fastest time, and that's a win.
I've always said my expectations are higher than what anyone else could put on me.
My whole thing is simple, well-balanced meals. I have to say, though, that I really like dessert. I try not to eat dessert every day, but I'll have dessert every now and then.
Sometimes I feel surrounded by this dark cloud, and it feels like I can't breathe. It's nervousness and I don't know what else.
Drama holds you back.
I remember skiing being a family recreational thing.
When I was 3 years old, I thought I was very good at skiing.
I just - I fell in love with the sport when I started to ski gates. Once I was allowed to start training gates around 6 years old, then I really fell in love with it.
I love traveling and seeing new things, learning the histories of different cultures. But I've always wanted to go to the Galapagos to see the giant turtles.
My dream job has always been to be a ski racer.
My parents strapped a pair of plastic skis on my boots when I was two years old and sent me down our driveway in Vail. Of course, they were holding on to me the whole time, but that was my first experience 'skiing.'
I'm not really seeing pressure as a negative.
It rained a lot in New Hampshire, and when I skied, the snow was icy and hard, and the mountains were small.
If I hadn't come East as a kid, I might still be a World Cup racer today, but I wouldn't be the same World Cup racer.
I don't really have time or interest in doing a lot of the crazy things that some of my teenage peers do, mostly because I have such a hectic life that I don't need to add to that chaos by creating my own teenage drama like a lot of teenagers do.
I like it when hard work pays off.
I do doubles on Monday and Thursday, take Wednesday off or do easy cardio, do doubles on Thursday and Friday, and the weekend I just get outside and get active - jog or bike ride, or play tennis with my mom.
One of the biggest misconceptions is that carbs are bad. It's a fad right now. Full disclosure: I'm sponsored by Barilla. But I've always been free about saying I love carbs, including pasta, in moderation.
Out on the hill under the helmet, nobody sees your face or hair, but then you take it off, and they do - that's the part I'm nervous about.
The harsh cold and windburn from hours of skiing does a lot of damage to my skin, so I try to keep my skin as moisturized as possible.
Most people just see ski racing during the Olympics.
I have some really lofty goals that don't even scratch upon the Olympics.
I was lucky enough that my parents knew about World Cup skiing, so since I was really little, we were watching World Cup winning runs.
I've always wanted to do things as fast as possible.
I get this adrenaline rush from just going down the course and feeling like I made a really great turn and I'm going to do it again and again and again. That feeling can't be replaced, and that's the feeling I'm striving to get every time I go out there.
I haven't had to make a decision between 'my brand' and money. Everybody seems to get what I'm going for: the healthy lifestyle, staying active, being young and youthful.
During the season, one of the most important things to eat is the carbs. Protein's really important, too, but it's the carbs that are important because I have to consistently refuel for the next day.
In the end, I want to be an inspiration to somebody.
I've learned some quick tricks about how to fix my hair so I can dash somewhere unexpected and still be O.K. when someone stops me to take a picture.
People tell me an Olympic medal is a life-changing event. Except I don't even think about the medal unless someone asks about it.
People watch the Olympics because they want to believe in heroes; I know I did.
I have all these things I want to do, but I don't have to do them right away. Because it's not just about winning, it's about succeeding, which to me are two different things.
Some sports, you see some athletes just walking around the gym not really doing anything, eating food. They're first to the lunchroom, never lifting weights.
It's hard to find someone who is really genuinely happy for you if you are having success and they're not.
I just try to be as nice as possible and make fun of myself and laugh at the jokes.
'Don't worry about it, and you'll be great,' said nobody, ever.
Here's the thing. You can't get ten thousand hours of skiing. You spend so much time on the chairlift. My coach did a calculation of how many hours I've been on snow. We'd been overestimating. I think we came up with something like eleven total hours of skiing on snow a year. It's, like, seven minutes a day.
