Mikaela Shiffrin recently expressed her admiration for Taylor Swift and how she found her competitive edge in one of Swift’s songs during the 2026 Winter Olympics. The World Cup slalom champion skier was last seen in action at the slalom event in the quadrennial event held jointly by Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Shiffrin ended her eight-year-long Olympic medal drought in style. She edged out Swiss skier and reigning individual world champion Camille Rast to win the slalom gold medal at the Winter Olympics this year.
Mikaela Shiffrin Opens Up on Using Taylor Swift’s Song Post Olympic Success
Shiffrin explained why she used pop star Taylor Swift’s song, ‘Ruin The Friendship,’ in her Instagram post after her success at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics 2026. The X page of ESPN Women shared an excerpt of the Olympic champion skier’s interview on the SportsCenter show, where she mentioned,
“You know what? I have been thinking about this song. It’s probably my favorite song on her new album. And it feels like it just speaks to sort of this, the scariness, but also how worth it is to. Worth it. It is to take risks, and how scary that may be, and sort of accepting. Accepting the unknown of it, accepting the fear of it.”
The multiple World Cup champion skier also mentioned that she first heard about this song at the beginning of the 2025-26 season. The 30-year-old added,
“And I don’t know why, but, you know, back in October, when we were heading into the first season of the race in Austria, this album came out and I was listening to this song [Ruin The Friendship]. I was like, this is just how I feel when I’m skiing right now, trying to encourage myself to take the risk, and kind of waiting for the right moment to use that lyric.”
Shiffrin had endured multiple struggles on her road to reclaim her lost glory. Her career was threatened by a near-fatal crash in Nov. 2024 during an FIS meet held in Killington, Vermont, which left her with a puncture wound in her abdomen, following which she had to undergo surgery.
Yet, the 30-year-old didn’t give up. Unlike the Beijing Winter Olympics, Shiffrin completed all her races at the current Winter Olympics. Despite finishing fourth in team combined and 11th in giant slalom, the American skier went out with her head held high, courtesy of the gold medal finish in the slalom event.
