Mikaela Shiffrin was unsure about her GOAT status ahead of the start of the Winter Olympics. But a conversation with gymnastics legend Simone Biles cleared her mind. Unfortunately, as she tried to navigate her way into the Olympics, the road to success seemed a bit twisted. She failed to complete the slalom, the giant slalom, and the alpine combined event. And just when the hate speech seemed to be clouding her career, Shiffrin hit back with a golden reply and some Taylor Swift sass. 

“My advice is always ruin the friendship,” Shiffrin wrote on X. 

For the uninitiated, the caption was from a Taylor Swift song. It stated that either one can stay in their comfort zone forever or can come out and taste glory. Surely, it will involve a lot of risks, but in most cases, the outcome is pretty much rewarding. Just like in the case of Shiffrin, who won an Olympic gold medal. 

Having won more than 100 World Cups, the hype surrounding her was unreal. However, much against popular belief, Shiffrin had a rocky start. And soon, her haters took to social media and tried to pull her down. Thankfully, competing in the slalom final during the Winter Olympics, the 30-year-old remembered that she owned the snow. 

Right from the very beginning, she dominated the race. Following the first run of the morning, Shiffrin clinched a +0.82 lead. Ultimately, maintaining her stellar show, the skiing queen clocked 1.50 seconds to take first place at Milan, narrowly beating her Swiss counterpart, Camille Rast. 

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This was surely a massive moment for Shiffrin. Starting from the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the American had a streak of eight back-to-back Olympic losses. The last time she won gold was at the 2018 PyeongChang Games. Meanwhile, as she responded strongly, Taylor Swift has unknowingly helped and inspired Shiffrin tackle her career.

How Taylor Swift’s music shaped Mikaela Shiffrin’s journey through triumph and tragedy

At the beginning of 2024, right after concluding the 2023 season with an impeccable run, Shiffrin first opened up about how Swift has unknowingly played a major role in shaping Shiffrin’s life and career. 

While talking to The Times, Shiffrin candidly confessed, “I’ve spent 15 years studying Taylor Swift, and she has been guiding me a little bit every step of the way.”

The Olympic champion, who sounded more like a fan girl, further added, “It’s why most Swifties become Swifties. It feels like her music is speaking directly to you. Her experiences resonate; I’ve always tried to learn from them.”

Shiffrin is such a big fan that she did not even miss the opportunity to catch Swift perform live. She attended the Denver show of Swift’s Eras Tour and could not hold back her emotions and excitement. She shared how it was just “three hours of jumping up and down while singing every song at the top of my lungs.”

It doesn’t just end there. After the American skier faced one of the toughest phases of her life, she sought help through Swift’s voice. After losing her father, Shiffrin found solace in Taylor Swift’s song, Epiphany.

The skier said, “She literally addressed the most unforeseeable and horrific experience I ever have gone through. It speaks directly to the experiences I had in the hospital with my dad. It was hard to listen to and heart-wrenching, but also uplifting at the same time, which is something I really needed at that time.”

Not just personal struggles, but Shiffrin has fought battles on the professional front, too, with Taylor Swift on her headphones. Her song, Reputation, taught her to deal with fame and life as a celebrity, as the lyrics made her realize how “life is full of ebbs and flows” and how things will fall into place after a tough time.