This has been the most exciting week of Irina Shayk’s life, as the sultry Russian stunner found out Monday night that she was the new cover girl for the iconic Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. The news was revealed on the David Letterman show, as Irina sat in a room with nine other models that had posed for this issue.

Irina told the Huffington Post, “We were at that time in the green room – and then, little by little, we could see the fabric slowly falling, showing first the Sports Illustrated logo…then…the rest is history! It was a roller coster of emotions. I had butterflies in the stomach. No, I’m lying — I was?sick to my stomach. You have to understand, I come from such a small village in Russia — it’s not even in the map. So for me to be in the Sports Illustrated cover, a magazine that over 60 million people see — it’s a BIG deal and honor.”

We’re honored to have the chance to look at all these sexy shots of Irina in bikinis! See more of Irina after the jump, and go to SI.com to see her entire collection.