Mikaela Shiffrin and East Coast Winners at Killington

This weekend saw many firsts. For the first time since 1991, the East Coast held a World Cup event. For the first time since 1978, Vermont was host to the best Women Giant Slalom and Slalom racers in the world. For the first time ever, Killington Mountain entertained nearly 16,000 fans with two incredible days of alpine ski racing.

November is annually the beginning of skiing at Killington, also known as “The Beast of the East.” However, never has the demand for snow in November been greater than this weekend for the World Cup tour. Snow makers worked for over a month to accumulate enough snow to make Killington the perfect race course for the weekend of races. According to FIS reports, Killington used up to 140 snow guns at one time on the course to create base depths and packed conditions for the event. The temperature, the humidity, and the precipitation in the form of rain all could have ended the event before the weekend even began.

To the delight of junior racers, race fans, and event organizers, the event did take place and was a huge success. Grandstand tickets sold out within hours of going on sale in June. Lines to get into the base area were long, as fans anxiously waited to see the best in the world racing down the Superstar trail at Killington’s K1 base area. As fans approached the base area, the expo area was lined with booths selling everything from Audi Quattros, one of the sponsors for the event, to Cabot Cheese, one of the biggest exports for the state of Vermont.

The event officially kicked off Saturday with a parade of junior racers from all over New England. Vermont has seven ski schools, the most per state in the United States. And it was clear that a vast majority of people were hoping to see one of those former Vermont junior racers, Mikaela Shiffrin. Mikaela joined the oldest American ski school, the Burke Mountain Academy in Vermont, at the age of 11. Shiffrin, now 21, has quickly become one of America’s favorites on the snow. Shiffrin has won Gold at the World Championships in Slalom in both 2013 and 2015 and won Gold in Slalom at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. However, of her 22 World Cup tour victories, only 1 of them came in the Giant Slalom, which was the race set for Saturday at Killington Mountain.

Saturday – Giant Slalom

Much hype preceded the Swiss racer Lara Gut, who is more of a speed racer and whose skills were better suited for the Giant Slalom on Saturday. Just the fourth racer on the day, Gut unfortunately hit a divot in the snow and skied out of the course. 15 of the 61 racers, also met the same fate as Gut. The course seemed to be slower and slower as racers tested the gates throughout the first round. Nina Loeseth, of Norway, was the first racer down the mountain and led all 61 racers after the first round was completed. Besides Shiffrin, it wasn’t a great day for the other Americans. Nina O’Brien, Megan McJames, and Resi Stiegler all finished out of the top 30 and didn’t qualify for a second run.

The standings after the first run:

Nina Loeseth (NOR)
Tessa Worley (FRA)
Federica Brignone (ITA)
Viktoria Rebensburg (GER)
Marta Bassino (ITA)
Ana Drev (SLO)
Mikaela Shiffrin (USA)
Frida Hansdotter (SWE)

The afternoon was even more difficult as the fog rolled in and made visibility very limited for the first 15 racers of the second run. On Saturday, the Italian race team showed how strong and deep they are, with 5 racers in the top 10 and 8 racers in the top 30. Sofia Goggia of Italy ran a 58.93 for the fastest time of the day on her second run to take 3rd place overall. Nina Loeseth ran the fastest first run at 59.47 and finished 2nd place overall. The French skier, Tessa Worley, put together 2 consistently fast runs at 59.56 and 59.70 and was able to take home her 9th World Cup Giant Slalom victory and her first since December 2013.

Giant Slalom Final Standings:

Tessa Worley (FRA)
Nina Loeseth (NOR)
Sofia Goggia (ITA)

Sunday - Slalom

The temperatures were slightly colder Sunday, but the fog was gone and the skies were a beautiful blue for another great day of racing. Sunday’s Slalom was full of exciting near falls and great technical skiing. Mikaela Shiffrin pushed aside the jitters and as she said “a rough morning” and proved why she’s the best Slalom racer in the world. Shiffrin finished the first run in first place .65 seconds ahead of the closest competition. In Slalom, the gates are closer, the turns are tighter and the times are often within hundredths of seconds of each other.

The reigning World Cup Slalom Champion Frida Hansdotter finished the first round in 6th 1.57 seconds behind Shiffrin. Nina Loeseth finished in 4th, as she hoped to stand on her second podium in two days. Most interesting was Veronika Velez Zuzulova who finished in 2nd. Interesting because her husband was setting the course for the second round. This isn’t as uncommon as it may sound to some people. The course setters for certain national teams set the courses for each run and it just happened to be the Slovakian team’s turn to set the course and Zuzulova’s husband is the course setter for the Slovaks.

The standings after the first run:

Mikaela Shiffrin (USA)
Veronika Velez Zuzulova (SVK)
Wendy Holdener (SUI)
Nina Loeseth (NOR)
Petra Vlhova (SVK)
Frida Hansdotter (SWE)
Lena Duerr (GER)
Sarka Strachova (CZE)

The crowd for the second run was as loud as it had been all weekend. One by one, racers came down the course, each topping the time set by the previous racers. Denise Feierabend of Switzerland had the best time in the second run, unfortunately it wasn’t enough for her to crack the top 10. Hansdotter had an unusually slow second run, finishing 10th overall. When Nina Loeseth finished, she held the fastest time of all racers before her. Unfortunately, there were still 3 great racers after her and her full attention was on each racer’s final time in hopes of standing on the podium again. Next down was Wendy Holdener who finished 2nd in Levi Finland just 2 weeks prior in the first World Cup race of the season. Holdener ran a fantastic second run, faster than Zuzulova and Shiffrin, but couldn’t make up enough time from the first run and finished 3rd. Zuzulova, with 6 slalom podium finishes in 2015-2016, including two 1st place finishes while Shiffrin was out with an injury, was solid as usual and held the top spot with only Shiffrin left to race.

As Shiffrin loaded into the starting gate, the fans erupted. The cowbells and the cheers didn’t stop until well after the 44.65 seconds it took Mikaela to cross the finish line. As she crossed the finish line, she looked up at the standings and saw the 1 next to her name. Poised as always, calm and cool, one fist pump was Shiffrin’s celebration. From the age of 11 until Sunday. Training at Burke Ski Academy, all of the races, all of the memories, weighed on her shoulders. That one fist pump was all she needed to say “I did it” and suddenly all that weight was gone. Shiffrin is the world’s best Slalom racer and she was able to prove that in front of 16,000 family, friends, and fans at Killington Mountain in Vermont.

Slalom Final Standings: