Shiffrin Featured Among Sport Legends in Sport's Illustrated's "The Unrelenting" Issue

Two-time Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin was featured among female sports legends in Sports Illustrated's recently launched "The Unrelenting" issue, introducing their list of "the most powerful, most influential and most outstanding women in sports right now—the game-changers who are speaking out, setting the bar and making a difference." 

As Sports Illustrated states, 

“Everyone thinks women should be thrilled when we get crumbs, and I want women to have the cake, the icing and the cherry on top, too.”

Those were the words famously spoken by tennis legend Billie Jean King in 1970 as she led a crusade calling for female players to earn equal prize money. Throughout her career and in the decades since that proclamation, King has championed equality and social justice and her efforts have created opportunities for both women and the LGBTQ community—and at age 76, she’s still charging on.

That’s why King kicks off The Unrelenting, Sports Illustrated’s list celebrating the women in sports who are powerful, persistent and purposeful in their pursuits—for athletic greatness, gender equality, social justice and more. Women who are innovating, influencing and inspiring. Women who are showing up, speaking out, setting the bar and making a difference, both inside and outside of competition.

From athletes and activists, to executives, coaches and more, the group of honorees is diverse and spans a variety of sports and fields, but all of the women share a common thread: They’re all changing the game.

Athletes and game-changers like Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, Megan Rapinoe, Simone Biles, Allyson Felix, and beyond, were mentioned in the article, and Mikaela posted on Twitter Wednesday that she's honored to be featured among them. 

Wow. 🙇‍♀️
It’s such an honor to be mentioned alongside legends like @BillieJeanKing, @serenawilliams, @naomiosaka, @Simone_Biles, @allysonfelix + more. Humbled. Thank you so much, @SInow. And thank you to all of those who paved the way for us in sport. 😊 https://t.co/yiUQLBm3fc

— Mikaela Shiffrin (@MikaelaShiffrin) October 7, 2020

Back in February, Mikaela did a shoot with Sports Illustrated for their March cover. It was February 1st, 2020—an unusually warm day in Alpe Cimbra, Trentino, Italy, home of the official European training base for the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team. Olympic and World Champion and FIS Ski World Cup overall leader Mikaela Shiffrin was there to begin a training block, but she was also there to achieve yet another career-first: become the first Olympic athlete in this sport era to receive a solo Sports Illustrated cover outside of an Olympic year.

The evening of that shoot, Mikaela and her mother Eileen received a call that would change their lives forever and bring their world to a screeching halt. Mikaela's father Jeff had been in an accident. They traveled back to Colorado on the first flight they could, to spend their last hours with their beloved father and husband. Greg Bishop, from Sports Illustrated, wrote a beautiful piece for the cover issue. 

Throughout the last several months, Mikaela has announced her involvement as a Kindness Wins Champion with Kindness Wins, auctioned off gear to help those affected by COVID in her home state of Colorado, wrote songs dedicated to Barilla factory works in Italy to help them keep their spirits up, played music, spoke out against social injustice on social media, helped to launch the Jeff Shiffrin Athlete Resiliency Fund, in her father's honor—a fund created to help bridge the funding gap created as a result of COVID-19 setbacks for all athletes across all U.S. Ski & Snowboard sports, and more. Fast forward to Sports Illustrated's "The Unrelenting" issue, just released. 

The youngest slalom champion in Olympic history; the youngest skier to earn 50 World Cup race wins; the first skier—of any gender—to earn $1 million in prize money in a single season; the girl who for years has worn an ABFTTB (“Always Be Faster Than the Boys”) decal  on her helmet: It’s no secret that Shiffrin dominates her sport like no other athlete. After her father’s unexpected death in February and cancellations due to the coronavirus, the 25-year-old has confronted the many challenges of 2020 head on. With a changed perspective, Shiffrin is using her platform to make a difference, developing a more powerful, outspoken voice on racism and social justice and creating the Jeff Shiffrin Athlete Resiliency Fund, in honor of her father, to help athletes who have been impacted by the pandemic.

Read the full article on si.com.