COPPER MOUNTAIN — With glitter on her face and a sparkle in her eye, eighth-grader Amalia McNeirney could barely contain herself Saturday morning after meeting America’s ski racing GOAT, Mikaela Shiffrin.
McNeirney was one of about 30 middle school and high school girls from Colorado’s Arkansas River Valley who got to hear Shiffrin speak about ski racing and pursuing life with passion. Then they skied with the Vail Valley product, who became the United States’ first three-time Olympic gold medalist in skiing at the Milan-Cortina Olympics.
“I’ve never been more excited in my life,” McNeirney said. “Itap just really, really cool that we get to meet someone who is so famous and so generous. It makes my heart go really, really fast. The fact that she’s been giving us stories about her home life, you can tell she’s a good person and she wants to laugh with us. She’s not just all about the fame and the money from winning the Olympics.”
The girls from Chaffee and Fremont counties were there through elevateHer, a nonprofit organization with a mission to empower young women through outdoor adventure. Not all were ski racers, but McNeirney is. So is Rose Lenth, another eighth grader who wore glitter for the occasion.
“She’s one of my heroes,” Lenth said of Shiffrin. “I love her. I’m so impressed every time I watch her ski. She’s like incredible, and itap inspiring that she’s from Colorado, knowing that you can really do anything.”
In a Q&A before skiing, the girls asked Shiffrin how she got started, what she thinks about in the starting gate before a race and what she wanted to be when she was growing up. “A rainbow horse,” she said in all seriousness, cracking up the room. Then she asked them the same question. Among the answers were nurse, veterinarian, paleontologist and baker.
“Itap so cool to see all of these passions in the room that are completely different, but they still get to come together and enjoy snowsports,” Shiffrin said in a quiet moment away from the group before they headed out to ski. “Thatap the most beautiful example of being in the mountains — skiing and snowboarding, these sports that we do — you’re allowed to be an individual and still share a passion, celebrating everybody’s uniqueness, all their different passions and lifestyles. Itap healthy to get outdoors, to be in the open air and be moving your body, no matter what you want to do (for a living).”
America’s ski racing superstar ‘not ready to be done yet’
Since returning from Europe two weeks ago following the conclusion of the World Cup season, , appeared with Stephen A. Smith on ESPN, served as “guest photographer” at a Brooklyn Nets game and did several Gen Z digital media shows.
Her home is in Edwards, but she doesn’t get to spend much time there. In a few days, she will leave for a ski camp at Mammoth Mountain in California. There isn’t much of an offseason for ski racers. They train where the snow is, which includes trips to South America in the summer.
Three years ago, she broke the record for World Cup wins, which had stood at 86 for 24 years and was long considered unbeatable. Since then, she has added another 23 wins to her record. Having turned 31 last month, she’s not old for a ski racer, but she’s not young, either.
“My body feels the impact of the sport over time,” she said. “If you consulted my spine, skiing three days in a row now is hard. I used to be able to ski six days in a row with really high volume every single day. I don’t have the capacity to do that anymore.”
She is starting to think about life after skiing, whatever that transition might look like.
“What I know is that I’m not ready to be done yet,” she said in a conference room while the girls from elevateHer donned their ski gear. “I also feel different at this time this year than I have in any other year. I want to be able to make the time to connect with the snowsports community in a different level.”
The appearance at Copper was part of that.
“What I want to do is maybe explore these things while being able to stay fully committed to what I am doing in the sport,” she said. “That might mean less racing.”
Since 2024, Shiffrin has been engaged to Norwegian ski racing star Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who won the World Cup overall title in 2020. They haven’t set a date, but that may come now that the Cortina Olympics are behind her. Her older brother, Taylor, who raced for the University of Denver, became a father a few days ago. She’s looking forward to motherhood.
“Thatap something I want,” Shiffrin said. “I cannot imagine having a child right now, absolutely not, but I also can imagine that desire coming pretty fast and pretty suddenly. Now that I’ve seen their baby … I know Aleks wants that, too, but we have not been able to stay in the same place for more than a month at any point in our relationship. Can you imagine? Itap like, ‘We haven’t seen each other really for six months, maybe a day here and there,’ and then itap like, ‘Letap have a baby.’ It doesn’t work that way.
“It gets a little bit more complicated when you think, ‘I’m 31.’ Time’s not slowing down.”
She clearly had an impact on the girls she encountered on Saturday.
“She’s compassionate and thinks about other people,” eighth-grader Anabelle Soltz said after they skied with her. “Spending time with her, you can tell how much she cares about other people and the respect she has for her sport. It’s amazing to be around. It’s powerful to see people like that. It uplifts.”
