CARRABASSETT VALLEY, Maine — With a crowd of hundreds waiting at the finish line, Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin earned her third national slalom title in the U.S. Alpine Championship race on Saturday at Sugarloaf.
Shiffrin crushed the rest of the field, finishing her second run more than four seconds ahead of teammate and runner-up Paula Moltzan. It was the second medal of these championships for Moltzan, as it was for third-place finisher Megan McJames.
Shiffrin delivered a touching speech at Friday night’s banquet that paid tribute to the sacrifices parents make to support their young ski racers’ quests for greatness in an unforgiving sport. She made her own parents proud today as she claimed her fourth career national title, which includes a giant slalom win at Squaw Valley last year, and further solidified her reputation as the United States’ most decorated female slalom skier.
“What I wouldn’t do to see that run again.” Shiffrin’s father, Jeff Shiffrin, said following the conclusion of the first run.
Second out of the start gate for the first run, Shiffrin blew through the finish line with a blistering time of 45.38 seconds, good for a 2.62-second lead heading into the second run.
A challenging course and fast snow conditions claimed 16 racers who did not finish the first run.
“She was flying!” tweeted U.S. Ski Team vice president of communications Tom Kelly after the first run.
Shiffrin competed 28th in the second run, trumping a field of 23 finishers by more than 2.6 seconds. Teammate and closest finisher Moltzan was 4.31 seconds behind Shiffrin at the end of the day.
The men take to the hill at 9:30 a.m. Sunday for the final event of this week’s championships. For a complete schedule of the 2015 Nature Valley U.S. Alpine Championships, visit www.sugarloaf.com/usalpine.