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Mikaela Takes Care of Business Quickly on Hard Charging Greyhawk Course
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Mikaela Shiffrin sliced through an icy Greyhawk slalom course as if it were butter.
 
 
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Saturday, March 26, 2016
 

STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK

PHOTOS BY NILS RIBI

They’d come from as far away as Portland to see her.

And Mikaela Shiffrin wasted no time giving them what they’d come to see.

 
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Mikaela Shiffrin took time to pose for a zillion pictures in the race finish arena.
 

The first woman on a course, the fastest slalom skier in the world quickly danced down an icy Greyhawk course, her strong legs zigzagging like a pendulum underneath her as the crowd roared.

 Zip zip zip through the tight poles at the bottom.

And then she went to work signing autographs while the difficult, technical course spit out 38 of the 67 women who followed.

“What am I thinking now? I don’t know” she said, breathlessly as she signed a man’s thermo. “I just want to see my video.”

 
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David Chodounsky powered his way to a national slalom championship.
 

Three and a half-hour s later Shiffrin returned to a different course that started midway down Greyhawk. She repeated a flawless effort on her cherished Atomic skis and went back to signing autographs.

“Ohmigosh. I love this course! It’s difficult—like a World Cup course. I can’t wait to see what the GS is like!” she said.

It was Shiffrin’s 11th straight slalom win—a streak that dates back to January 2015. She broke the World Cup record during one of those races.

She was 4.18 seconds faster than her closest competitor in the first of the two races. She ended up beating second place finisher Lila Lapunja by 6.73 seconds.

 
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Jordan Cashman was one of dozens who had trouble navigating the technical slalom course.
 

Her win not only made her the national champion women’s slalom racer. But she stood atop the podium with the junior racers, as well.

“She made it look like she was skiing butter,” said Maria Maricich, Sun Valley’s 1984 Olympic downhill racer.

In contrast the other racers, who hailed from as far away as Mexico, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, France, Japan and Canada, were bumped around and caught in gates. They scrubbed speed. They fell. They ran off course.

Norway’s Benedicte Oseid Lyche, one of the top competitors going in, hooked a gate, landed on her back and slide down the course.

 
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Lila Lapanja finished second behind Mikaela Shiffrin.
 

Sun Valley’s Hayley Cutler skied off course but climbed back up to stay alive for a second round.

“It’s so slick you can’t hold an edge,” she said breathlessly at the bottom. “If you’re not standing on your skis, you’re done.”

Sun Valley’s Teagan Palmer straddled a gate at top.

“It’s very, very tight, very tight and icy,” she said.

“It’s a hard course. The gates are tight so you have to turn quickly. And the snow is really icy,” echoed Sun Valley’s Erin Smith.

You would think it would be nerve wracking standing in the starting gate for the second race, knowing you’re so far ahead but one false move and you’re out.

Not for Shiffrin.

“I was standing at the top watching them put down their run and it got me inspired,” said Shiffrin, whose brother raced in the men’s race. “I’ve been doing this for a long time—I know how to work my body. And I felt really comfortable on the course. It’s a really cool course—steep, hard snow—like a World Cup run. I knew all I had to do was just keep my feet moving.”

Shiffrin, who will sign autographs from 4 to 5 p.m. today at the Brass Ranch at River Run, eyed the dozens of youngsters who had crowded up to the fence clamoring for autographs.

Among them: Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation racer Charlotte Davis-Jeffers, who said she hoped to be among the top women in the United States in five or six years.

 “I’m still amazed that people care so much about what I do, but I love that I can inspire the kids. And they inspire me, too,” said Shiffrin.

“No, you can’t have my phone number,” she told one youngster.

 “The oddest thing I’ve ever signed?” she paused in response to another question. “Someone’s forehead.”

Shiffrin said she was just “so happy” to be in Sun Valley skiing for the national championship after having suffered a knee injury in mid-season.

“And I’m looking forward to going back to the drawing board, to figure out how to be faster. Not just in slalom but Super G, and combined. I’d really like to get better at that next year.”

In the men’s slalom, David Chodounsky took care of business just as Shiffrin had, making it look easy while 28 or the 85 men representing the United States, Italy, Austria, Sweden, Norway and Serbia fell by the wayside in the first run.

“The course is very tense, the snow’s catchy but firm, so that makes it fair for everyone,” he said after hugging Sun Valley Olympian Will Brandenburg, who had numerous difficulties with his run.

A few hours later, he was treasuring a national championship.

“It’s a really cool course. Steep. Hard snow. I love it.”

WOMEN’S RESULTS

Mikaela Shiffrin 1:46.56

Lila Lapanja 1:53.29

Roni Remme 1:53.46

MEN’S RESULTS

David Chodounsky 1:43.47

Robby Kelley 1:45.83

Michael Ankeny 1:46.36

TV COVERAGE:

Run the tough technical Super G course across the wall and over the pitch onto Greyhawk from Daron Rahlves’ point of view today when NBC-TV broadcasts a 90-minute version of Thursday’s Super G race at 10:30 a.m.

Rahlves, who won the downhill and Super G at Austria’s famed Hahnenkamm course during his storied career, ran the course for NBC with four Go Pros strapped to him for front—and rear—perspectives.

AUTOGRAPH SESSION:

Mikaela Shiffrin will sign autographs from 4 to 5 p.m. today at the Brass Ranch at River Run.

MEN’S GIANT SLALOM

Tommy Ford will lead off the men’s giant slalom at 9:30 a.m. today on Greyhawk. The second run will start at 12:30 p.m. with the awards ceremony following at 2:30 p.m. on Warm Springs Plaza. Free shuttles run from River Run parking lot every half-hour.

STREET PARTY

A Baldy Bash Street Party and Concert will start at 3 p.m. and run to 6:30 p.m. on Warm Springs Plaza. It will feature Grammy Award-winning pianist Johnny Neel and Bryon Friedman and his ban.

LIVESTREAMING

Sun Valley is livestreaming all races at www.sunvalley.com/usalpine.

 

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