Meet ski racing’s next big star, Mikaela Shiffrin. Mikaela is a U.S. Ski Team member who races on the World Cup, specializing in the giant slalom and slalom.
Born in Vail, Colorado, Shiffrin’s meteoric rise up the ranks in alpine racing began as soon as she was old enough to compete in FIS sanctioned races. On December 14, 2010, while meeting the minimum age of 15 requirement, Shiffrin won a Nor-Am Cup super combined race held at Panorama, BC – it was only the eighth FIS-level race she’d ever competed in. She followed it up by taking a 2nd, 3rd and 1st again in her next three Nor-Am races, a super-G, a GS and a slalom respectively. A couple of weeks later she won a pair of Nor-Am slalom races held at Sunday River, Maine. A month later she captured glory on the international stage by taking a slalom bronze at the FIS Junior World Ski Championships held at Crans Montana, Switzerland.
Shiffrin made her World Cup debut on March 11 in a giant slalom at Spindleruv Mlyn in the Czech Republic. In early April, just a few weeks after her 16th birthday, she won the U.S. National slalom title at a race held at Winter Park, Colorado, and became the youngest American skier ever to claim a national alpine crown.
On December 29, 2011, Shiffrin made her first World Cup podium at a slalom in Lienz, Austria. She started 40th and lost her left shin guard halfway down, but finished in 12th place in the first run. Shiffrin then posted the fastest time in the second run to secure third place.
Shiffrin won her first World Cup race in December at the age of 17, a night slalom in Åre, Sweden. She became the second-youngest American to win an alpine World Cup event, behind Judy Nagel (17 yr, 5 mo.) in 1969. Shiffrin’s second win came two weeks later at a night slalom at Zagreb, Croatia.
Read more about the girl behind the tittles in this interview from Outsideonline.com – MY PERFECT ADVENTURE: MIKAELA SHIFFRIN
Skiing’s next huge star tells us that her perfect day would involve a nap and a Glee episode, that she’d love to meet Shawn Johnson, and that the Northern Lights are on her bucket list. Also: her simple, five-word life philosophy is serving her quite well.