Mikaela Shiffrin has been fielding questions about her legacy since she was a teenager, and in the first episode of her new podcast “What’s the Point,” released in October 2025, she opened up about the confusion surrounding this ongoing inquiry.
Sitting down with her fiancé, Aleksander Kilde, the legendary American skier revealed that despite her extraordinary achievements and record-breaking performances across every discipline in alpine skiing, she still struggles to articulate what her own legacy truly means.
What are Mikaela Shiffrin’s Thoughts on Her “Legacy”?
When the conversation turned to legacy, Shiffrin was candid about her long-standing confusion regarding what people were actually asking her. She recalled being posed this question when she was merely 17 or 18 years old, responding with a mixture of bewilderment.
“I’m 18. How am I supposed to know that?” Even now, at 30, Shiffrin admitted she still cannot provide a satisfactory answer. “And I’m 30 now. And I don’t really know how to answer that question,” she explained to Kilde.
Rather than attempting to define legacy for herself, Shiffrin has spent years listening to how people around her interpret this concept. “So it’s mostly just hearing like other people’s definition of legacy. And there’s so many interesting answers,” she noted, emphasizing the variety of perspectives around the concept.
Some individuals believe that legacy is fundamentally about demonstrating unwavering passion for something that genuinely excites a person. “Your legacy is just showing the world how passionate you can be about something that really lights you up,” she shared, reflecting on one interpretation that resonated with her.
However, Shiffrin acknowledged that other perspectives on legacy diverge significantly from this vision. “Your legacy can be, you know, it can be philanthropic efforts. It can be all these different things,” she observed, recognizing that legacy extends far beyond competitive achievements and accolades on the slopes.
For Shiffrin, legacy encompasses the entirety of how a person chooses to live their life and the manner in which they treat those around them. “It can be the way that you exist in the world. Treating people with kindness,” she added.
The aspect of legacy that most profoundly struck Shiffrin was the realization that it is not a fixed concept, but rather an ongoing process that continues throughout one’s entire lifetime. “Your legacy is something you’re creating over time. It’s an ongoing process,” she explained.
This led her to question the fundamental logic behind asking someone to define their legacy while they are still actively living and shaping it. “That’s why I never understood the question, because how can you talk about your legacy when you’re still living?”
Shiffrin’s Impressive Career
Born in Colorado in 1995, she has established herself as one of the greatest alpine skiers in history, achieving records that had once seemed insurmountable. She holds the record for the most World Cup victories by any alpine skier with 101 wins, including 64 in slalom and twenty-two in giant slalom.
At 18 years of age, Shiffrin captured Olympic gold in slalom at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, making her the youngest Olympic slalom champion in history. She has been crowned the World Cup overall champion five times and is the most decorated American alpine skier at the World Championships, with 15 total medals, including eight gold.
Read More: Mikaela Shiffrin Reveals How Conversation With Slovakian Champion Inspired Her Off-Field Venture
Her fiancé, Kilde, is a world-class alpine skier from Norway, born in 1992 and among the sport’s elite competitors in speed events. The couple’s connection began at a World Cup race in Chile in 2014, though their relationship did not develop immediately. The turning point came in February 2021, following the passing of Shiffrin’s father, when Kilde reached out through Instagram with his condolences.
Their communication evolved throughout 2021, and by autumn, they had begun dating officially. The couple announced their engagement on April 4, 2024. Kilde won the World Cup overall title in 2020 and earned Olympic medals at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games in both the super-G and alpine combined events.