ZAGREB, Croatia (Jan. 4) - Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, CO) thrilled an overflowing crowd in Zagreb and millions watching across the world on television with a stunning 1.19 second Audi FIS Alpine World Cup slalom victory to take the prestigous Snow Queen Trophy and regain the World Cup slalom title lead. At just 17-years-old, the wire-to-wire win rewrote history as Shiffrin became the first American to win two World Cup races in a single season before the age of 18. She also became the youngest woman to win two World Cup slalom races in a single season since 1977. Teammate Resi Stiegler (Jackson Hole, WY) was ninth to return to the World Cup top 10 for the first time since suffering an ACL injury at the 2012 World Cup Finals. Universal Sports Network aired the final live in the U.S. and will rebroadcast the race at 8 p.m. ET.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, CO) claimed her second Audi FIS Alpine World Cup slalom win of the season.
- Shiffrin clocked the fastest times in both runs to post an enormous 1.19 second margin of victory.
- The 17-year-old regained the World Cup slalom title lead as Slovenian Tina Maze did not finish (Shiffrin 336, Velez Zuzulova 312, Maze 310).
- She became the first American to win two World Cup races before the age of 18 and the youngest woman to win two World Cup slalom races in a single season since 1977.
- Shiffrin, Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) and Julia Mancuso (Squaw Valley, CA now sit 6-7-8 in the overall standings (Shiffrin 426, Vonn 414, Mancuso 391).
- Zagreb boasted the biggest single race payday on women’s tour at 50,820 Swiss Francs (roughly $55,000).
- Resi Stiegler (Jackson Hole, WY) was ninth to land back in the top 10 for the first time since tearing her ACL last season.
- With three Canadians also in the top ten, there were five North Americans in the elite group.
- Universal Sports Network will rebroadcast the race at 8 p.m. ET
QUOTES
Mikaela Shiffrin
I was in the zone where you feel like your skiing well and you almost feel unstopable. If you win, you always want to win by more and that just means you're always trying to ski better.
On wearing the Snow Queen crown and cape
This is an amazing feeling. When I was little, I would put towels around my neck and run around my house like it was a cape on my back. Now, I have a real cape robe thing and I'm really excited to go home with that.
I think that hopefully this win brings a lot of excitement to ski racing in the U.S. It's not going to change anything for me. There will be more interest from the sponsors maybe and media, but I'm still going to be doing the same thing.
It's definitely one of my goals to win the slalom title and then the GS title, and sometime the overall. Right now, I am taking it day by day and race by race.
In the second run I was thinking about Marlies (Schild) and about how much she would crush the second run like she did last year. I channeled that energy and it worked. She is a true Snow Queen.
Resi Stiegler
I've been working hard and it's nice to put two runs together. The last couple of races I've had one good first run and an OK second run, but now it's coming together.
I had good momentum last year, so I've just pretented like I didn't get injured this year so I could keep that momentum going from the very beginning. I've also had great training in between back-to-back races so it's been pretty easy to keep things moving in the right direction.
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