Mikaela Shiffrin Wins Overall World Cup Title After Olympic Struggles: Ending Season 'on a High'

Mikaela Shiffrin, who is largely considered one of the world's best skiers at just 27 years old, won her fourth World Cup overall title Thursday

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Mikaela Shiffrin's proved her dominance on the ski slopes this week, despite the athlete's tough experience at the Beijing Games in February.

Shiffrin, who is largely considered one of the world's best skiers at just 27, won her fourth World Cup overall title Thursday. The Associated Press reported the victory comes after Shiffrin earned three consecutive overall titles between 2017 and 2019.

As the World Cup overall champion, Shiffrin will be honored with a crystal globe trophy. She's now tied with just retired skier Lindsey Vonn for the second-most wins in women's history.

Reflecting on the challenges of the season, Mikaela noted the victory comes after some "very low moments."

"There were many moments this season that have been very great," Shiffrin said, per NBC Sports. "But there's also been some very low moments. It's the lowest I've ever felt in my career, in my life as well. Not just skiing, but as a human, there's been moments where I feel the weight of everything so much that it's just a terrible feeling."

Continued Shiffrin, "After the Olympics, [the overall] was the final goal that was still possible to achieve. It felt like all the biggest goals I had this season, I didn't do anything. Now this is very special."

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During the Beijing Games, Shiffrin failed to finish her portion of the women's combined event. And while defending her gold medal in giant slalom during the Winter Olympics, Shiffrin lost control just seconds into her run, falling on her left hip. The three-time Olympic medal winner then skied out for the first time in years, ending her 30-race streak, and was disqualified from the event. Similar results happened in all of her events — Shiffrin either skied out or didn't finish high enough to medal.

In an Instagram post during the Beijing Games, Shiffrin shared a powerful message about overcoming the online hate she had been subjected to about her surprising struggles.

"Well kids … feed 'em what you wanna feed em, self pity, sadness … let the turkeys get you down. There will always be turkeys or get up, again, again, again, again, again, again, again," she wrote. "Get up because you can, because you like what you do when it's not infested with the people who have so much apparent hate for you. Just get up. It is not always easy, but it is also not the end of the world to fail. Fail twice. Fail 5 times. At the Olympics."

She added, "I come back because those first 9 turns today were spectacular, really heaven, that's where I am meant to be."