Mikaela Shiffrin (center) celebrates her 3.07-second World Cup slalom victory Saturday in Aspen.
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Veronika Velez Zuzulova of Slovakia, who finished second to Shiffrin on Saturday, skied out early in the first run Sunday. Her winning margin of 2.65 seconds over Swede Frida Hansdotter in second and the Czech Republic’s Sarka Strachova in third proved that yesterday’s record-breaking 3.07 second victory was no fluke.
Shiffrin, who more than doubled her lead on the second run with a superb display, was over three seconds clear of her nearest rival.
Shiffrin is expected to go head-to-head with Vonn as the former moves from her traditional domain of slalom into some of Vonn’s favored speed events.
The 20-year-old from nearby Eagle-Vail finished the course set by one of her coaches in 48.01 seconds.
Shiffrin, the reigning Olympic and world slalom champion, has won three straight World Cup races in the discipline dating to last season. “It’s just the beginning of the season”.
Vonn, returning from a broken left ankle, was tentative out of the start gate. “I’m like, ‘Forget that yesterday happened, just do the same exact thing.’ It was actually amusing, a lot of the day today felt like some of the exact same stuff happened, and I just did the same things and it worked, so that was good”. The four-time World Cup champion was running seventh when she faltered, the third of 18 skiers who failed to finish the opening run.
“Three great races, really”, Shiffrin said.
Shiffrin surpassed the previous World Cup slalom record for margin of victory held by Florence Steurer. “She’s skiing so economic, like real easy”. “But it is still a good weekend for me and I can’t wait for the next races”.
Her performance Sunday capped off quite a weekend of racing for Shiffrin after a rough start. Right before the third-to-last gate, she said she was thinking, “Wow, I can’t believe I made it this far”.
“They’re like, ‘You know how to do it. Why are you nervous?'” Shiffrin recounted. I don’t know if we will ever see my fastest skiing in a race. Aspen will host another slalom race Sunday and Shiffrin will be the overwhelming favorite.
Her plan was simple: Attack the course.
“I attacked (the second run) as hard as I possibly could”. That’s Lindsey Vonn’s territory.
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Shiffrin, after Saturday’s podium ceremony, said, “I’m happy about the victory, but I’ve got to let it go”. “Just have to make sure I stay smart to the finish”.
