Mikaela Shiffrin. Photo: GEPA pictures.

With nothing left to race for, Shiffrin realizes she was racing for herself the whole time.

Mikaela Shiffrin could take a relaxed approach to racing now. By any standard, she is unquestionably among the greatest alpine ski racers of all time.

However, after her momentous weekend of racing in Åre, Sweden, meeting and surpassing Ingemar Stenmark’s long-standing (since 1989) record of 86 World Cup wins, Shiffrin says the pressure she feels before every race stays with her.

“The train doesn’t stop,” she said after winning No. 87 in the Are slalom. “Hopefully, this doesn’t actually change much of the nerves or motivation.”

Since Shiffrin began tallying World Cup victories like (to use her analogy) a high-speed train, she has said that breaking records and reaching specific benchmarks were not big goals.

“I don’t place the emphasis on the numbers. I can’t tell you what the number means,” she said.

Proving to herself the truth of those words has been one of the most gratifying experiences of breaking the record.

Shiffrin, who turned 28 on Monday (March 13), went into the weekend in Åre to earn the GS globe for the season. Having accomplished that, as well as notching her 86^th Cup win and tying the record, should have been enough to take the pressure off.

“To win GS and secure the globe – that was my biggest goal for the weekend. I wouldn’t dare to ask for more this season than securing the GS globe. Doing that, I came out thinking, that’s good. It’s done. I don’t have anything else to race for. For me, 86 was the wildest number,” she said. “To get 86 and come out and race with the same nerves and anticipation was one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced. It was a personal moment to realize that, yeah, I want to race just because I want to race.”

Racing because she wants to

 With nothing more to prove, no record left to break and no medal left to win, expect Shiffrin to keep racing as she always has, nerves and all. She wouldn’t have it any other way.  

“I mean, I would love to race without nerves because it’s really uncomfortable to be nervous,” she says. “But we get nervous because we’re not certain about what’s going to happen and because we care about what’s going to happen. I hate it, but I’m okay with it. Now that I’m here, I hope the nerves continue.”