American skiing sensation Mikaela Shiffrin delivered another masterclass performance on Sunday, securing a dominant slalom victory on home snow at Colorado's Copper Mountain resort.
Perfect Start to Olympic Season
The triumph marks Shiffrin's fourth consecutive World Cup slalom win, maintaining her flawless record in the discipline during this crucial Olympic season. Her winning streak now includes the opening two races of this season plus the final event from last season, demonstrating remarkable consistency at the highest level.
Competing just thirty minutes from her hometown of Edwards, Colorado, Shiffrin delivered under pressure from enthusiastic local supporters. "I could hear you guys from the start. Thank you," she told the cheering crowd after her second run. "I felt perfect this run. This was just lights out amazing."
Record-Extending Performance
This victory represents another milestone in Shiffrin's extraordinary career. She now boasts 104 World Cup victories, extending her own record as the most successful alpine skier in history. Furthermore, this marks her 67th slalom win, reinforcing her dominance in the technical discipline.
Skiing through moderate snowfall conditions, Shiffrin built upon her first-run advantage to finish 1.57 seconds clear of Germany's Lena Duerr, who climbed impressively from ninth position after the opening leg.
Emotional Homecoming
The weekend held particular significance for Shiffrin, coming just days after she was moved to tears watching fiancé Aleksander Aamodt Kilde return to competition following nearly two years recovering from serious injuries. Kilde raced in Thursday's Thanksgiving super-G at the same Copper Mountain venue.
Albanian teenager Lara Colturi completed the podium, rising from fourth position to claim third place despite an early error in her second run. She finished 1.85 seconds behind the victorious American.
This represents Shiffrin's first World Cup victory in Colorado since November 2015, when she won two slaloms at Aspen. Of her 104 career wins, twelve have now come on American soil, including the slalom at the 2015 world championships in Vail-Beaver Creek, Colorado.
Shiffrin's current form suggests she'll be among the standout performers at February's Milan Cortina Olympics, where women's Alpine skiing events will be held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. Her previous success at the 2021 world championships in Cortina, where she claimed four medals from four events, bodes well for her Olympic prospects.
The American star now travels to Tremblant, Quebec for next weekend's giant slalom competitions before returning to Europe for the remainder of the World Cup season.
