Shiffrin Ends 31-Year US Drought At Aspen!

Let’s start with the basics for those who are new to ski racing. The Olympics shows the best skiers in the world once every four years. Each year between the Olympics, the athletes compete in the World Cup. The World Cup season goes from November through March and travels the world with stops in Italy, Germany, and Switzerland. This weekend was the opening weekend for the World Cup season with racing both Friday through Sunday at Aspen Colorado. There are 4 types of racing; (from shortest to longest) Slalom, Giant Slalom (GS), Super Giant Slalom (Super G), and Downhill. The Slalom is a very quick, back and forth, around 60 gates. The GS is a slightly longer course, with speeds in the 50 MPH range and skiers must navigate around 35-45 gates during the course. The Super G has even less turns and higher speeds. Finally the Downhill can see speeds close to 80 MPH and contains only turns as set out by the course. In all competition, Gold medals are won and lost by hundredths of seconds. The difference between the best in the world is usually measured in blinks of an eye. Friday was a Giant Slalom race which consists of a combination time of two runs through the course. Saturday was a Slalom race also scored by a combination time of two runs through the course.

The US women’s ski team has been among the greatest in the world over the past 10 years in both the Olympics and the World Cup. The US team has been led by Lindsey Vonn, Julia Mancuso and Mikaela Shiffrin unfortunately Mancuso, the Silver medalist in Downhill and Combined at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, is out for the season after hip surgery. Vonn, the all-time leader in World Cup wins, on the other hand has battled injuries but looks to be back and ready to compete again at the highest levels. Shiffrin, Gold medalist in Slalom at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, is the new American hope of recent years. The Americans also are hoping to see improvements from racers Leanne Smith and Slalom specialist Resi Stiegler as they take on the best in the world.

Aspen has been a tough place to race for the US team as no American has won at Aspen since Tamara McKinney won the Giant Slalom in 1984. On Friday the US team was in prime position to end that streak with Shiffrin, the 20-year-old star, leading the rest of the field by over a second. Vonn went down first, she was making solid turns at the top of her first run, but on a large downhill portion, she moved her skis to her left side and the outside ski buckled under the pressure and came off, sending Vonn to the snow and to the fencing on the side of the trail. Ski conditions can change very quickly on the mountains, Colorado had gotten fresh snow over the past two days and as the day went on, the temperature went down. The snow on the second run became inconsistent and icy around the turns. In ski racing, the last person to go is the person with the best first run time, this was Shiffrin’s time to end the drought. Shiffrin with a huge lead just needed to put in a solid run, but she is a competitor and “take it easy” is not in her vocabulary. Shiffrin went hard; she even extended her lead in the course. Shiffrin got to the final 3 gates, still running hard, she took a hard left hand turn, but could not hold the edge and went down to the ground, just 50 feet from the finish line. The three winners who were waiting for Shiffrin at the finish line to pass them all on the podium, instead stood stunned as they watched Shiffrin go down.

Friday’s Results – Giant Slalom

1st – Lara Gut (SUI)

2nd – Eva-Maria Brem (AUT) +.10

3rd – Federica Brignone (ITA) +.34

Saturday was a new day. Shiffrin’s top event is the Slalom, so Saturday’s Slalom race gave her another opportunity to end the American drought in Aspen. Conditions were much better on Saturday with the snow having cleared up late Friday night. Stiegler went first for the Americans; she worked hard through the gates, stayed on edge and produced a solid run. Stiegler finished 15th overall, but after battling injuries last year, she was excited to have a good run. The Swedish skier Frida Hansdotter ran an aggressive second run, really hitting each gate hard and attacking the course, Hansdotter would hold the lead until the final two racers of the day. Shiffrin, like yesterday, came into the gate knowing all she had to do was run a conservative race. But again, Shiffrin did not “take it easy.” She hit a gate near the top with both skis off the snow, really hammering into her turns. At the bottom, you could see a great balance and great poise as she neared the finish line. As she crossed the finish line, she just stopped and stared at her time. Shiffrin did something no Women’s Slalom racer had done in the 50 years of World Cup racing; she beat her competition by over 3 seconds.

Saturday’s Results –Slalom

1st – Mikaela Shiffrin (USA)

2nd – Veronika Velez Zuzulova (SVK) +3.07

3rd – Frida Hansdotter (SWE) +3.26

Due to the cancellation of what should have been the opening weekend of events last weekend in Levi Finland, there will be another Slalom race tomorrow at Aspen before the Women head to Lake Louise in Alberta Canada next Thursday through Saturday.