Meet Irina Shayk, a native of Yemanzhelinsk, the 2011 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Cover Model. Sports Illustrated has also launched their Swimsuit 2011 website, featuring lots of image and video material of all participating sports stars and models, as well as behind the scenes interviews, imagery and more. Here’s the official news from SI:
Irina Shayk soaks up the sun on the beaches of Maui as the cover model for the 2011 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue (www.SI.com/Swimsuit), out today. Now across more platforms than ever, the 2011 edition of Swimsuit will be an unprecedented showcase of the models through hours of video and a bevy of photos—with much of the story told by the models themselves through unique video features, lengthy interviews and behind-the-scenes footage from the shoots.
Shayk graces the cover under the headline Paradise Found in Hawaii. She is the first Russian cover model and joins an elite group of Swimsuit models to grace the cover, one that includes Kathy Ireland, Christie Brinkley, Cheryl Tiegs, Heidi Klum, Elle MacPherson, Tyra Banks, Petra Nemcova, Marisa Miller and Brooklyn Decker. This year’s cover was shot by Bjorn Iooss—son of long-time Sports Illustrated photographer Walter Iooss Jr.—who captured the iconic image with the first shot on his first-ever Sports Illustrated shoot.
More about Irina Shayk: A native of Yemanzhelinsk, a village that doesn’t show up on most maps, the brown-haired, green-eyed Shayk made her SI Swimsuit debut in 2007 and has appeared in every Swimsuit issue since. Her previous photo shoot locations have included Tucson (2007); St. Petersburg, Russia (2008); Naples, Italy (2009); Chile’s Atacama Desert (2010); and Maui and the Philippines (both 2011). Shayk’s bathing suit in the 2011 cover photo was designed by Sauvage by Elizabeth Southwood, and her bracelet was made by Los Angeles-based Ettika.