Ski Racing - January 16, 2012

reason for my fundamental development, which
led me to this point.”
Once in the leader’s box, Shiffrin acted a lot
more like a typical American teen — she watched
TV. “There is a little screen in there so you can
watch the race and my eyes were glued to it,”
said Shiffrin with a laugh. “It was a very surreal
feeling to see Nikki Hosp come down and see
that I beat her; I’ve been watching her for so
long.”
Shiffrin not only beat Hosp, she was also faster
than Lindsey Vonn, Maria Hoefl-Riesch and sev-
en other top World Cup slalom racers. She had
already secured a podium spot when she was
finally bumped by first run runner-up, Slovenian
Tina Maze, and then again by the unstoppable
Marlies Schild, who grabbed her fourth consec-
utive win in the fourth slalom of the season. Shif-
frin’s second-run time was 0.24 seconds faster
than Schild’s.
Still technically just a J2-level racer, Shiffrin
could hardly believe the company she had on
her first top-level podium. “I’ve been watching
all the top girls for so long and I never thought
I would actually be on a podium with them or
standing next to them,” she said. “I for sure didn’t
expect them to be telling me congratulations for
an awesome run, and then it just happened. It
was really crazy.”
When asked to compare her dreams of reaching
a World Cup podium to actually doing it, Shiffrin
said she never anticipated the list of obligations
that accompany a top finish but that she enjoyed
all the interviews, autographs and photos.
“Whenever I imagined having success on the
World Cup, I only ever thought about the run or
maybe in the finish but just for a few minutes,”
she said. “Today it went on for like an hour. The
run was the best part, for sure, just skiing like
that. I can’t explain it — words can’t describe
how good it feels to make 67 turns like that. It
gives me the shivers to know that I did that.”
Shiffrin took advantage of her last opportunity
to celebrate a top result alongside her team-
mate and fellow Vail native Sarah Schleper, who
retired that day (see page 33).
“It was special because the whole day wasn’t
about my third place; it was about something so
much bigger than that, about Sarah and her 15
years on the team and how much hard work she
has put into it,” said Shiffrin. “Sarah is a beauti-
ful person and a gorgeous skier. I am just so
happy that she gave me a chance to ski with her
because she has been one of by biggest idols
for so long.”
Like all celebrations during the thick of the grind-
ing World Cup tour, the merrymaking was short
and simple. A ride on her teammates’ shoulders
in the finish area, a few calls back home and it
was on to prepare for the next race.
“Any time you have a good finish, it for sure
gives you confidence,” said Shiffrin. “For the
most part, it makes me want to do better and
move forward. Just knowing that I won the sec-
ond run is a huge confidence booster because
I know that I can win against the very best in
the world and that is what I’m going to be shoot-
ing for. From now on I just want to keep moving
forward and getting faster and closing the gap
even more.”