Shiffrin turns page on busy off-season, begins pursuit of record-tying 6th overall World Cup title

Keeping up with Mikaela Shiffrin's off-season endeavours may be just as challenging as catching up to her in a ski race.

She's constantly full speed ahead.

The all-time winningest World Cup ski racer attended a Taylor Swift concert, visited a camp where a lodge was named after her, picked up an award at the ESPYs, stopped by to see her boyfriend/fellow ski racer Aleksander Aamodt Kilde in Norway and wrote an article for Time on singer Noah Kahan.

On the training front, Shiffrin immersed herself in trail running, adapted to a coaching change and adopted a new attitude — "relaxed and flowy," she called it — into her racing. The five-time World Cup overall winner has come to realize it's OK to build throughout a season and that she doesn't need to be at her elite best when the season kicks off Saturday with a giant slalom race in Soelden, Austria. Live coverage begins Saturday at 4 a.m. ET on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.

"I'm trying to take a little bit more of an approach of giving myself time to build into my best form," the 28-year-old Shiffrin said Thursday in a Zoom call. "If I feel amazing on Saturday, I'll take it. I'm not going to complain about that."

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One of the questions hovering around Shiffrin was motivation. More specifically, how does she find another source of inspiration after breaking Ingemar Stenmark's longtime World Cup wins record last season. Shiffrin's current total stands at 88 and counting (Stenmark had 86).

Not even close to an issue, Shiffrin maintained. Her motivation will be as strong as ever in pursuing more World Cup overall titles. The women's record is six by Annemarie Moser-Proell of Austria.

"So that