The Future has arrived: Mikaela Shiffrin

      Having just watched Mikaela Shiffrin win her 3rd World Cup Slalom race of the season at at 17 years and 308 days (the same age Annemarie Moser-Proil was when she won her 3rd of a record setting 62 World Cup victories), it is very hard to not start mentioning this young woman as one of the greats of the sport. She has now won three of the last four World Cup Slalom events. In under two seasons on the World Cup circuit she has finished on the podium five times (2 third places and 3 wins). To put that into perspective, Lindsey Vonn, who admittedly is not strong in the slalom, has only won a World Cup Slalom event two times in her career and has a total of 5 podiums in Slalom events.
       I believe Shiffrin does have the ability to be one of the best this sport has seen, and I quickly realized that in her first race she ever finished on the podium in Lienz, Austria back in December of 2011. After losing he shin guard midway through her first run, she was able to salvage the run for 12th place. Her second and final run was the moment that I knew. She simply charged hard that final run, able to take risks wherever she saw fit. Her second run time was the fastest of all the competitors, and it was good enough to propel her from 12th place overall, all the way onto the podium in 3rd.
      Nearly one year later, Shiffrin garnered her first career win in Are, Sweden. Since that race, she has been unstoppable winning three out of four World Cup Slalom events. She is now the leader for the World Cup Slalom events with a comfortable 81 point lead with three more Slalom events. Due to her recent surge in wins, she now finds herself sitting in 5th overall in total points on the World Cup circuit. While Tina Maze and Marie Hoffel-Riesch has a comfortable lead of her, I do not think it is out of question to see Shiffrin finish in the top 3 overall in points.
      At this stage in Shiffrin's career it is quite evident that she is still thriving on being a very technical skier and has specialized predominantly in Slalom events. However, she is now greatly improved in the Giant Slalom and is consistently finishing inside the top 10. I believe she will continue to improve in these events and make the eventual transition into more speed oriented events (Super G, Downhill), while maintaining the strong technical background that she already possesses.
      While it is too early yet to say definitively that she is the future of the US Ski team or that she will be the greatest American ski racer ever, what I do know is that it is all about living in the moment and that is certainly what it appears Shiffrin is doing right now. As she continues to focus on the race at hand, especially in the technical events (Slalom, Giant Slalom), the wins and podiums finishes will continue to add up.

 

Thank you for making this World Cup season enjoyable to watch Mikaela!