Mikaela Shiffrin wins Best Female Athlete at 2023 ESPY Awards
Record-setting skier becomes first Alpine athlete to win award since Lindsey Vonn in 2011
Mark Terrill/AP photo
Mikaela Shiffrin claimed the ESPY Awards’ top athlete honor Wednesday at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, Calif. The Edwards skier received the award for Best Athlete in Women’s Sport after a season in which she broke Ingemar Stenmark’s all-time Alpine ski World Cup wins record and won the overall, slalom and giant slalom crystal globes.
Despite her deserving accolades, Shiffrin was classy and humble as she walked to receive her trophy from presenters Kyrie Irving and Angel Reese.
“Sitting here in this room is an insane amount of greatness,” she started. “It’s such an honor and pleasure to be a part of this event.”
Shiffrin thanked her family, friends, boyfriend Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, brother, sister-in-law, team and coaches.
“Honestly I have a whole stack of people I’d have to thank for literally getting me to where I am today through failure and through success,” she continued. “It’s been a long journey and it’s not over yet.”
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Shiffrin is not the first Alpine skier to win the award, which has been given annually since 1993. Lindsey Vonn took the Best Athlete in Women’s Sport in 2010 and 2011. Tiger Woods (5) and Lance Armstrong (4) have the most Best Athlete Award wins.
Shiffrin was also nominated for Best Record-Breaking Performance, which went to Lebron James. The 38-year-old Lakers superstar surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabber’s NBA career-scoring mark in February and announced he’ll return for a 21st season during his acceptance speech.
“This season was absolutely incredible and there was a lot of talk about records, and it got me thinking,” Shiffrin said near the end of her roughly 2-minute acceptance speech, before taking a long pause.
“And I just feel like it’s not important to break records or reset records. It’s important to set the tone for the next generation, to inspire them. And the inspiration I feel just being in this room is a little bit overwhelming — I think you can probably tell.”
A few other Coloradans received awards Wednesday night as well.
Silverthorne’s Zach Miller won the award for Best Athlete with a Disability.
“We are so excited for Zach for taking home an ESPY Award tonight,” Sophie Goldschmidt, president and CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard stated in a release.
“Just recently, we re-introduced Para under our wing at U.S. Ski & Snowboard and it’s athletes like Zach that make me so excited for the future. What an incredible win tonight for him and the team — I can’t wait to see what’s next!”
Miller won three medals in three separate disciplines at the 2023 World Championships. The snowboarder in the SB-LL2 classification specializes in dual-banked slalom. He was first named to the U.S. Para Snowboard Team in 2019 and already has five World Championship medals to his name.
Nikola Jokic may not have won the NBA MVP award, but he snagged the ESPY for the Best NBA Player after leading the Denver Nuggets to the franchise’s first league title. His teammate Jamal Murray took the ESPY for Best Comeback Athlete.
“I want to give a big shoutout to my teammates for helping me get my confidence back,” he said. “All season long, all rehab long, they supported me … without the team success, this is not even possible.”
