EagleVail teen Mikaela Shiffrin, the Olympic slalom champion, is now a World Cup winner in two events, having won a giant slalom Saturday in Austria. Associated Press
Olympic slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin began the World Cup season in spectacular fashion, capturing her first victory in giant slalom over the weekend in the season opener at Soelden, Austria.
Now the countdown to the world championships in Beaver Creek has begun in earnest, with the clock down to 98 days. It will be the Vail Valley’s third world championships, having previously hosted the prestigious event in 1989 and 1999. The alpine worlds were held in the U.S. only one other time — Aspen in 1950.
This is much bigger than the annual World Cup races that come to Aspen and Beaver Creek. This is an Olympic caliber event with men and women competing in all four alpine disciplines from Feb. 2-15.
I got to thinking about how much different these championships will be for the U.S. Ski Team and its fans compared to the previous times they’ve come to the Vail Valley. In 1989, the U.S. Ski Team was coming off a disastrous 1988 Olympics in Calgary. Tamara McKinney was really the team’s only medal contender and she came through, winning the slalom and claiming bronze in combined. At the 1999 worlds, the U.S. failed to win a medal.
But the U.S. will be loaded this time around with Shiffrin and five other Olympic medalists: Lindsey Vonn, Bode Miller, Ted Ligety, Andrew Weibrecht and Julia Mancuso.
Shiffrin is the reigning world champion in slalom and has won nine World Cup slaloms. The EagleVail teen had to be considered a threat in slalom and giant slalom at worlds before Saturday’s victory in GS, which only reinforced her medal hopes in the discipline.
It’s not too early to start thinking about heading to Beaver Creek in February to see the world’s best alpine racers. It’s sure to be a fantastic show.
