Mikaela Shiffrin: On Staying One Scoop Ahead This Season

This winter, we’re thrilled to welcome Alpine Ski Champion Mikaela Shiffrin to our community of global ambassadors. Fresh off another remarkable victory—securing her 104th Alpine World Cup race win…and counting—Mikaela sat down with AG1 to talk about the importance of consistent routines, recovery, and how she stays one scoop ahead each day.

Raised on mountains across the country, Mikaela grew up training at Ikon Pass destinations like Palisades Tahoe and, today, continues to redefine excellence on and off the snow—inspiring both the AG1 and Ikon Pass community to ski with passion.

AG1: What made you start using AG1?

Mikaela Shiffrin: I started using AG1 as a little trial because my fiancé was using it. I was interested, but I had never really found a supplement I could stick with consistently over long periods of time. With all the travel I do, it was always impossible to manage multiple supplements—unpacking and repacking every three days just didn’t fit my lifestyle. I would forget, fall out of routine, and nothing ever lasted.

When I started trying AG1, I noticed after about two weeks that I was actually looking forward to taking it in the morning. It became an easy routine, and it helped me get key nutrition into my system daily without any stress. Now, two, three, maybe even four years into taking it, I don’t think I’ve missed a day. It’s one of my favorite morning routines.

AG1: How would you describe AG1?

MS: AG1 has become a routine for me—a habit that makes a difference over time. Over time, you start to feel the difference because it gives my body the nutrients it needs in a way that helps me anticipate my energy and how I’m going to feel consistently. In my sport—in a lifestyle that is dependent on constant travel and time-zone changes, and all the things that mess with your rhythm—AG1 helps me stay ahead of it and stay on top of things.

Skiing is incredibly demanding, both mentally and physically, so having a few key routines that help regulate your energy system and your mindset is essential. I’m not a particularly superstitious person, but I really believe in routines and having repeatable habits that keep you grounded, motivated, and performing consistently. And that’s just a really key thing in my life.

AG1: What’s your biggest health hurdle during the ski year?

MS: Probably the toughest health hurdle to handle during the ski year—is just how much we travel. We’re moving to new venues every two to three days, and it’s really hard to keep your nutrition consistent. Meals change, restaurants change, and we’re not always able to cook for ourselves. We don’t usually travel with a chef, so a lot of the time you’re relying on whatever the hotel provides. That makes it tough to stay truly consistent and to depend on nutritious food. Because of that, the smaller routines you can keep every single day become really important.

AG1: How do you think about nutrition in your life outside of skiing?

MS: AG1 supports my life outside of skiing because it helps with three key pillars in my life: consistency, health, and motivation. Those three things are essential not only for performing within the sport, but also for helping me raise my baseline—my baseline energy, my baseline expectations of how I’m going to feel on any given day.

When I’m healthy and consistent in my routines, even on my lowest days, that higher baseline allows me to enjoy the moments outside the sport more freely and more fully. The transition moments—the in-between times when I’m traveling from one race venue to another, listening to music in the car with my mom, or being able to really enjoy a call with my fiancé—those are the moments life is built on.

My life outside of skiing is incredibly important to me, and being able to feel regulated and energized allows me to live those small, meaningful moments with my family and loved ones to the fullest. Those moments are what everything else is about.

AG1: What advice would you give to other skiers when it comes to supporting immune health?

MS: My best advice to other skiers, and to other athletes, is that consistent routines are really important. That’s something I’ve struggled with throughout my life and my career—finding routines I can really stick with. But when you find the things that help you stay consistent, that becomes absolutely key.

Recovery is essential, and sleep is one of the most important parts of that. Sleep is my number one tool for supporting my immune health, and it’s the thing I prioritise above almost everything else. Consistency in your routine, taking AG1 every morning, and making sure you get enough sleep—those are the fundamentals that make all the difference.

You can’t cut corners racing downhill at 80 miles per hour. On the mountain, every single detail counts - and consistency is everything.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.