Ski Racing - March 12, 2012

0.22-second cushion on Stiegler, Mielzynski put down the run of her life to win by five-hundredths of second, taking her first win, her first podium and first top- 10 finish all at once.

The North American duo watched with disbelief as the first run’s top four faltered and fell, leaving Mielzynski and Stiegler crying, laughing and screaming when the dust settled. Schild took the third podium step on the day and quietly clinched her fourth career slalom title with an untouchable 299-point lead and only two slaloms left to race.

“This has been my dream for as long as I can
remember,” said Mielzynski, who became the
first Canadian woman to win a World Cup sla-
lom since Betsy Clifford in 1971. “This is more
than incredible. It was crazy coming fifth in the
first run — that hasn’t happened before. And
then this? I can’t describe it!”
Mielzynski, a 21-year-old former competitive
water skier, brought the recently injury-plagued
Canadian women’s team its first win in four
years and its first podium in three years. Fellow
Canadian Marie-Michele Gagnon joined the cel-
ebration, tying her career high in fifth place.
“Coming down with the green light on the sec-
ond run, it took a few seconds for it to sink in,”
said Mielzynski. “I stood in the finish box and
that was just incredible. It was crazy to see my
name at the top of the standings.”
For Stiegler, the podium result represented her
arrival after a very long road of injuries, surger-
ies and rehab over the last four years.
“Luckily I have a crazy mind that has never
ceased to believe in myself and there were mo-
ments that I wanted to give up,” said Stiegler,
the daughter of 1964 Olympic gold medalist
Pepi Stiegler. “I’ve believed in myself for so long
and that is it; that’s all it ever was, the fact that
I knew that I could do this. It came at the right
time, I would say.”
Stiegler’s promising career was derailed just as

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