Mikaela Shiffrin and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde might just be Colorado’s newest “Athlete Power Couple.”

The couple is stylish, accomplished, becoming more well-known and unique. Who else in Colorado can claim that title currently?

The crown might have tipped toward Russell Wilson and Ciara Wilson if the Denver Broncos keep Russell, but things are looking DangeRuss at Dove Valley for that coronation to occur.

It appears Shiffrin, aka “Sir-naps-a-lot,” and Kilde, aka “The-Arnold-Schwarzenegger-of-Skiing,” have cemented their status as Colorado’s athlete power couple going forward.

A power couple is defined by the Cambridge dictionary as two people who are married to each other, or in a relationship with each other, and both have extremely successful careers, especially in politics or entertainment.

• Relationship (dating since early 2021): Check
• Successful careers in sports entertainment (Shiffrin – 93 World Cup wins; Kilde – 21 World Cup wins): Check

Kudos for the notion that Colorado has a non Big 4 sports-couple representing the state, even with the two new to each other.

Shiffrin has been a Colorado legend for several years now, particularly after surpassing Ingemar Stenmark for most World Cup wins during the 2022-23 race season. But Kilde brings his “Norwegian Viking” motif, and his modeling career, to the table while holding hands with Shiffrin.

To be honest, Kilde is more like a plus-1 to Shiffrin now, but usually one of the two bears the burden of top dog to start.

“I’ll always be the ‘plus one’ when I’m around Mikaela,” he said in an interview for Olympics.com in November 2022. However, his resume of accomplishments add to the couple’s laundry list of awesomeness more so than say Colorado’s previous athlete power couple.

The previous title holders were the Elways, circa 1984-2001. John and Janet Elway became Denver and Colorado sports royalty when No. 7 landed as the quarterback for the Denver Broncos in 1983.

Janet was an accomplished athlete, too, competing in swimming in the 400-meter individual medley — butterfly, back, breast and freestyle. Janet holds a national record in the event and won a gold medal at the 1979 World University Games in Mexico City.

As for John, “The Duke of Denver,” well, we all know his accolades on the gridiron (Super Bowl XXXIII MVP, NFL MVP – 1987 and Pro Football Hall of Famer), and what he meant and still means to the city and state. Heck, in 1994 I saw Elway, just like Arnold Palmer at the 1960 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills Country Club, drive the green on the 346-yard, par-4 first hole — he’s that kind of guy.

But for Shiffrin and Kilde, the “classic power couple image” of yesteryear that used to be captured in the pages of Sports Illustrated and Denver media outlets has been replaced by the new demeure of social media, blog posts and pundit panels of the 21st century.

A fitting example of Shiffrin and Kilde working out together from an Instagram post solidifies the new era of how athlete power couples are presenting themselves to the masses, not portrayed by others to the masses.

Shiffrin credits some of her successes to her never-met-her bestie Taylor Swift. In a New York Times article, Shiffrin said she has looked for clues from Swift in how to live life as a celebrity, saying in part, “Taylor is a big fish in a big pond and I’m more of a big fish in a small pond,” Shiffrin said. “But you can see how she’s handled the attention, because she was a teenager too.”

Furthermore, the ever-so-humble and optimistic Shiffrin regularly tries to help people, from school-aged kids to adults, improve their mental health.

At an event at the Westin Riverfront Resort and Spa in Avon in September, Shiffrin answered questions from children about how she comes back from failure. Can we forget the Beijing Olympics in 2022?

“What I’ve found through the course of my career is the years where I was particularly afraid of failing – because I was afraid of disappointing those people who supported me and care about me – what I found was that when I finally did fail and own it, they actually supported me more,” Shiffrin said.

Kilde is just as much her inspiration as Swift.

“He’s a hero in Norway,” Shiffrin family friend Chris Anthony told me in December. “He (Kilde) would leave his life and become Mikaela’s husband, which is insane since he is one of the top two male skiers on the planet.”

Anthony also thought most people outside the very deepest ski racing fans wouldn’t know Kilde.

But if Kilde and Shiffrin were to reside in Colorado … he’d become a household name, too. Anthony said when Shiffrin is done ski racing, she’d want to be a mother because family is everything to her.

Only time will tell if that idea becomes reality, but currently it is safe to say Shiffrin and Kilde are Colorado’s “Athlete Power Couple.” Nobody is dethroning the “Queen of Ski Racing” and her “King of Vikingland” anytime soon.

SNOW NEWS

• The largest festival on snow for women, the Tan Boot Fest, is moving to Sunlight Mountain Resort southwest of Glenwood Springs, and the naked ski run (party lap) WILL be coming with.

Mark your calendars for March 29-30. Boot Tan Fest is inviting women, female-identifying and nonbinary individuals to enjoy a weekend of skiing.

Tickets are on sale now via the Boot Tan Fest website.

Calendar of events:

March 29

• 9 a.m. – Lifts running and Vendor Village open
• 3:15 p.m. Show – Comedian Shanel Hughes
• 3:45 p.m. – Load up for a special after hours party lap
• 5:30-7 p.m. – Live music at the base and tailgate competition
• 7 p.m.-Late – All night uphill access and camping

March 30

• 9 a.m. – Live music with LVDY and a guided journaling practice by Andrea Slusarski
• 10 a.m. – Option to ski and ride Sunlight Mountain Resort on your own

Ticket costs:

• Camping is sold out
• 1 Day Pass, $171
• 2 Day Adventure Pass, $220
• Apres, $100

The event is 21-plus only.