NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - The Drink with Kate Snow: Mikaela Shiffrin

Episode Date: June 12, 2025

In this bonus episode of The Drink, Kate Snow sits down with Mikaela Shiffrin, the most decorated alpine skier in history. Shiffrin reflects on the defining moments of her career so far — from the thrill of 101 World Cup wins, to the heartbreak of Olympic disappointment. She also opens up about her recent PTSD diagnosis, and how she hopes to bring greater attention to mental health among athletes. Tune in to watch the Winter Olympics in February 2026 on NBC & Peacock.

Hey everybody, it's Kate Snow. For this episode of The Drink, I caught up with Olympic skier Michaela Schifrin at LaMonte in Manhattan. She is the most decorated alpine skier in history. She chose seltzer with cranberry juice for her drink, and she taught me this trick where you blow bubbles into it to stir it up. If you're new to the drink, it's all about how people get to the top of their field. Michaela told me all about the defining moments so far, the thrill of standing on top of Olympic and World Cup podiums, and the hard, really hard moments

that made her question her ability. We also talk about the important conversation that she has started around mental health and how despite being diagnosed with PTSD after a life-threatening crash, she is still winning and she's training for the Olympics, the Winter Olympics next year. As always, you can catch all my conversations with top artists, entrepreneurs and visionaries at NBCNews.com slash The Drink.

Gee, dude, I just blew bubbles to mix it up. Do you ever do that? You blow bubbles? Yeah, if you blow a bubble in the bottom of it, it'll mix blue bubbles to mix it up. Do you ever do that? Do you like? Blue bubbles? Yeah, well if you blow a bubble in the bottom of it, it'll mix the cranberry juice to the top. I have never done this before. Just like one bubble.

Like that. Or a couple of them maybe. It helps, I feel like it like raises the cranberry juice to the top. How did I not know this trick until now? Well, because I'm an immature child. That's why, and you're an anchor. No.

Michaela Schifrin, two-time gold medal winner at the Olympics, eight-time world champion, alpine skier that is, you're more decorated than any alpine skier. Do you know that? Yes. Cheers. Quite an intro. You're like, I don't even know how many. I don you know that? Yes. Cheers. Cheers. Quite an intro. You're like, I don't even know how many. I don't know, but this looks great. This is delightful. Cranberry and seltzer. We are in LaMani,

right on Rockefeller Center. The drink is always about how somebody got to where they are. What's the short version? How did you become Mikayla Schifrin's amazing skier? I think the general concept is my parents both were incredible athletes growing up and our parents taught us how to ski. My dad was like well let's put the little plastic skis on their feet and it wasn't to become an Olympic ski racer it was just because that's something my parents loved to do.

My mom, she really was my ski coach from literally from day one. I liked hot chocolate and french fries and the race courses. Your mom coaches you in a way that some people were like, wait, she should be in more competitions, right? Wasn't there some, a little bit of blowback that like you weren't doing it the regular way or something? Yeah. And I think there's this kind of concept that if you win races, then you should just be

racing all the races that you could maybe win. But I went to a ski academy in Vermont and my coach there at the time, he sort of got us on this theory that racing less and training more is more valuable. And if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense because in a training day, I would get anywhere from eight to 12 repetitions in a course and really be able to practice and work on the craft. I realized that racing for the sake of racing doesn't give me anything.

I prefer training. I don't love racing. It's really stressful. So you're a teenager, you're winning all kinds of races. You go to Sochi for the Olympics. That had to be a huge part of your story, like a huge moment. It absolutely was. I think Sochi was

a milestone moment in my career, obviously, first Olympic gold medal. Now seems like she's in absolute control to the finish. McKayla Shiffrin wins gold for the US. I was the youngest Olympic slalom champion in ski racing. And so not only to have a gold medal, but to have this sort of title. And then to fast forward.

Yeah. Beijing Olympics. Here she goes. The important first run of the slalom to set the tone. He goes. Oh, no! You have got to be kidding me. Really don't worry.

People might remember there was that moment where, unfortunately, you're on the side of the course and you're crying. It is just one of the biggest shockers in Olympic Galpinestine history. I think I was just a little bit stunned at how everything had ended so quickly. Beijing was really unique. It's all man-made snow, it's incredibly cold temperatures, so the snow becomes almost like styrofoam in a way. Errors on that kind of surface cost a lot more.

And the errors I made, I cut it too close, and that's that. It's like life is determined by sort of margins. And Beijing was a series of races with a very small margin for error, and I was on the wrong side of that. Did you know in that moment that you would come back, that you would have other wins?

I think in that moment I questioned it. There's a lot of backlash about, you know, when you're expected to do something and you don't do it. And it's pretty hard to not pay attention to that or see it. Very isolating. You lost your dad too. The year before. I mean, it is huge to lose a parent. Yeah.

I struggle with this notion that a lot of people have like they feel the person they've lost and they feel their presence they know they're watching. I just wish he was here to watch. I wish I knew what he would say. I know what he has said and so I just kind of have things that he said to me in the past on repeat like a record player in my head and and I can only go based off of that but he didn't have a chance to Continue growing in his life to learn and he might be proud now and he might be like oh my gala It's time to stop. It's time to do something else. You know, I just don't know I want to believe that he would be so Beyond words proud. There are little girls that are going to see this interview and be inspired. You've done

that for I'm sure millions of younger women, younger girls. Is it overwhelming to hear that? I think sometimes it just shines a light on how important it is for us all to be aware of our actions and how we touch people. I'm really grateful for my platform because of the connection that I can get with people. So after Beijing, you come back. Last year, you're having a great season, right? You had an accident in November.

And it was bad. Oh no! Oh no! in November. Yeah. And it was bad. Oh no! Oh no! Oh no. Yeah. Stab wounds through the oblique. Which most people, that would have been the end of the season. Yes. Not you.

Shiffrin expanding her remarkable legacy in front of a roaring U.S. crowd. You just won your 101st World Cup. How did you do that? I mean, medically speaking, like the muscle heals. The mindset has been challenging. I have struggled a lot with actually diagnosed PTSD from not only from the trauma of this crash, and also from my dad's passing.

And it kind of all piles on top of each other and the previous traumatic experiences sort of blend into this most recent one. You have a YouTube series. Moving right along. Moving right along. And you did an episode about PTSD, being diagnosed with PTSD after this last crash.

Bringing to light what we feel as athletes mentally and just how complicated it is, maybe can be enlightening for others. It's been quite a learning curve. I think it's really important though to note that you don't have to discuss this out loud, and you are, and that is so, I mean, for every parent out there, we all feel like

the more someone like you, who's visible, an athlete talks about mental health, like the better we all are. The reason I wanted to talk about it is like, there are so many different facets to this, and the feelings and emotions and the way it presents is unique to everybody, but the more we discuss it, the more people realize this is a temporary reality for you.

And exposure is what allows you to move forward. Can we talk about the Olympics, the next Olympics? You'll be there. You'll be there next year. Hopefully, but- You would like to be there. I would like to be there. Yeah.

This season has been really exciting, and so it makes it really easy to look forward to Cortina next year and the possibilities for our entire team as a whole. We always do rapid fire. I'm so bad at this, but I will be more. But just do your best. Just do your best. Your go-to pump-up song. Nice for What, Drake, has been pretty big.

Which is your favorite, piano or guitar? I hear you play both. Piano comes a little bit more naturally. I play by ear, so I can't read music. What's the last show you binged? A Gossip Girl. I just finished. I can't believe any of it. It, it's obsessed. I'm obsessed.

If you were to ski, what would you be? I loved science in school. I also love interior design. And I also love hair. Someone who makes hair products in the science lab. Potentially. Or maybe I would work something like in environmental science. Or... So many things. I was saying before, you don't have to have it, nobody has to have it all figured out.

There's a lot of interest. It makes it a little hard to think about the future after skiing and what I want to do. I'm assuming you're not even thinking about that yet. I think about it, I just don't have any answers. So I'm like, well, I guess I just have to keep skiing until I know. What advice would you give to someone

who wants to do what you do? You really need to be passionate about it because I'm not gonna lie it's more often difficult than it is easy and the passion is really what drives you through the tough moments and then it's easy to be in love with the sport on a sunny beautiful day where you're skiing well or you're winning races and it's hard when you're in the dark moments where you're behind closed doors, out of the spotlight, nothing good is happening. I think this applies to anybody in life but especially to become a ski racer, like get excited being uncomfortable, working and drilling and working on yourself and

working on your skills. You're 15 seconds of fame, that's not what's gonna drive you through the sport. Michaela, thank you so much. This is fantastic. Thank you.