STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Mikaela Shiffrin thought about skiing a conservative line on her second run of Thursday’s Women’s Slalom at the 2025 Audi FIS World Cup Finals.

But she couldn’t let down the Hemingway STEAM School fourth-graders who had dressed up as dalmatians in a nod to “101 Dalmatians” to celebrate what they hoped would be her 101st World Cup podium.

And, when she heard the roar of thousands 689 feet down Sun Valley’s Greyhawk run, she knew she had to let it rip despite a course pockmarked with ruts as the temperature headed toward 60.

These are just a few of the 101 Dalmatians from Hemingway STEAM School who turned out to cheer Mikaela Shiffrin on.

Sixty-seven turns later she schussed across the finish line to a deafening road—the winner of the last Women’s World Cup Slalom Race of the season.

Shiffrin beat Germany’s Lena Duerr by 1.13 seconds with a combined time of 1 minute, 45.92 seconds. Andreja Slokar of Slovenia took third.

Shiffrin finished fourth in the overall standings despite having missed four races.

“(The cheering is) super helpful but creates some pressure, Shiffrin said: “You can feel the energy and that’s really exciting, the kids lining the side of the course saying, ‘Come on, Mikaela, you’ve got this…’ In the end I was standing in the start gate and I was thinking, ‘Do I ski this, somehow, like get to the finish and get valuable points, or do I take a risk?’ I heard everybody cheering and was like, ‘All right (go for) it.”

The crowd went wild as Mikaela Shiffrin crossed the finish line ahead of her German opponent.

Starting second, Shiffrin finished her first run in 52.05 seconds—0.59 ahead of Duerr.

It was a boost to what has been a trying season for the 30-year-old. She clipped a gate and veered off course while trying to win her 100th World Cup race, puncturing her oblique muscles in a Giant Slalom race Nov. 30 in Killington, Vt.

She finally won that 100th victory during a Feb. 23 Slalom in Italy. But she missed four slalom races this season, which kept her from defending her overall World Cup Slalom title. She only recently began testing herself on Giant Slaloms again as she recovers from the PTSD her accident caused.

As Thursday’s race approached, she practiced out of the public eye at Rotarun Ski area a few miles west of Hailey. That, she said, helped with her confidence and aided her progress.

Mikaela Shiffrin motions toward the crowd, describing how their excitement pushed her into skiing as fast as she could despite deteriorating conditions on the course.

And Thursday morning she sent out a message on Instagram: “Time to finish off this rollercoaster thrill of a season with one more race on home soil.”

“This has been a roller coaster,” she said. “There have been some thrilling moments and moments where I questioned if I should even be in the sport. This race, finishing with a good mentality, good intensity and really strong skiing, is going to help me, make it a little bit easier to dive into the next months with a good attitude.”

Shiffrin said she had hoped to have a strong performance on Thursday but that it’s sometimes hard to imagine that things can go well.

“So, to be able to finish it like this…I could hear the crowd down at the bottom and the people who were cheering at the start, and I could see people cheering along with side of the slope. That probably gave me the last bit of energy I needed to bring intensity to the right level because sometimes you think, maybe I’ll just survive this run. It felt good to ski it with power and intensity and I can’t thank the crowd enough for giving me that energy.”

Mikaela Shiffrin topped the podium with Germany’s Lena Duerr, right, and Sloveenia’s Andreja Slokar.

“We all just went, ‘Wow!’” said Shiffrin’s coach Karin Harjo as she summarized her feelings upon seeing Shiffrin post two good runs.

It could be tempting to want the season to continue after a race like Thursday’s Shiffrin said.

“But I’m look forward to some days where I don’t need to feel like there’s a big deadline to be prepared for another race. And I just got back to training, which is what feels the best for me. The big goal is to be ready for the start of next season with that good mentality in giant slalom, as well. This year is not the start or end of her career, but a restart.”

Shiffrin’s teammate Paul Moltzan had a fast second run, which lifted her from 14th place to sixth She raced with a thick bandage on her chin and an ankle sprain after running off course into the fence two days earlier in the Giant Slalom.

Moltzan said she could hear the crowd cheering while she was in the starting gate, the cheers spurring her on. The cheering fans included her fan club at the finish line, including her parents, husband and adopted college mother.

“There were so many people cheering us like crazy it was kind of a little distracting, but kind of nice. I’m proud of myself. Even I didn’t think I was going to end up in the top 10—I was just hoping to cross the line.  This helped convince myself that I can push it. And now Mikaela’s back on the podium and on top of it. Every athlete faces a lot of adversity and I’m proud of what she’s done and what she’s come back to.”

Moltzan, who will have shoulder surgery in six days,  is no stranger to Sun Valley having raced in the past few National Alpine Championships here, but she said the World Cup Finals only cemented her love for sun Valley. Moltzan said And I can’t wait to come back,” she said. “I’m uber high on Sun Valley.”

Croatian ski racer Zrinka Ljutic, 21, finished 10th in Thursday’s race. That was good enough to capture the Crystal Globe for points accumulated over the season. Katharina Liensberger of Austria took second and Camille Rast of Switzerland, third.