EagleVail’s Shiffrin brings home giant slalom gold at Pyeongchang Winter Olympics

Vail's Schleper, racing for Mexico in her fifth Olympics, misses out on second run

The winds finally stopped blowing and EagleVail’s Mikaela Shiffrin blew away the field in giant slalom for her first gold medal of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics Thursday (Wednesday night in the U.S.), becoming only the second American woman to win two career gold medals in alpine skiing.

Shiffrin’s two-run time of two minutes, 20.02 seconds at the Yongpyong Alpine Centre was .39 seconds faster than silver medalist Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway. First-run leader Manuela Moelgg of Italy, skiing last, finished off the podium and out of the medals. Italy’s Federica Brignone ended a long Italian drought in women’s alpine, claiming the bronze.

Starting next to last on the second run, Shiffrin skied into the top spot by nearly four-tenths of a second and at one point led by nearly a full second until a bobble at the bottom cost her some time.

“I was really taking risks and fighting for it and I’m so happy for that,” Shiffrin told NBC. “It’s been a work in progress every season in GS. I’ve always just come up a little short. To come here and do that today was incredible. Of course, I have the slalom tomorrow [Thursday night in the U.S., Friday in South Korea], so I’m trying to get my emotions in control and focus on that.”

Shiffrin was fifth in the GS at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics but has improved significantly in the discipline since then, winning twice in GS on the World Cup circuit this season and three times last season when she claimed the overall World Cup title.

Going into the Sochi Games, Shiffrin had never won in GS, but after those Olympics — in which she became the youngest slalom champion ever at age 18 — she vowed never to finish fifth and out of the medals again in GS.

Shiffrin sat in second and was just two-tenths of a second behind first-run leader Moelgg after the first run. Moelgg started first in the morning and turned in the top first-run time of 1:10.62. Skiing somewhat conservatively on the lower part of the course, Shiffrin was right behind Moelgg with a first-run time of 1:10.82.

Shiffrin, 22, joins Park City’s Ted Ligety and Andrea Mead-Lawrence as the only American alpine ski racers to claim two career gold medals. Shiffrin can claim her third by defending her slalom championship from Sochi on Friday.

Vail’s Sarah Schleper, 38, finished in the top 40 in the first run of Thursday’s GS, coming in 39th with a time of 1:16.80. Racing for Mexico, the five-time Olympian missed the top 30 and the chance at a second run, but the dual-citizen by virtue of marrying a Mexican resident of Vail wasn’t far off the other top Americans.

Schleper was right behind U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team member Resi Stiegler, who finished out of the top 30 in 38th. U.S. skier Megan McJames wound up 35th. No other Americans cracked the top 30.

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David O. Williams

Managing Editor at RealVail

David O. Williams is the editor and co-founder of RealVail.com and has had his awarding-winning work (see About Us) published in more than 75 newspapers and magazines around the world, including 5280 Magazine, American Way Magazine (American Airlines), the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), the Anchorage Daily Press (Alaska), Aspen Daily News, Aspen Journalism, the Aspen Times, Beaver Creek Magazine, the Boulder Daily Camera, the Casper Star Tribune (Wyoming), the Chicago Tribune, Colorado Central Magazine, the Colorado Independent (formerly Colorado Confidential), Colorado Newsline, Colorado Politics (formerly the Colorado Statesman), Colorado Public News, the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado Springs Independent, the Colorado Statesman (now Colorado Politics), the Colorado Times Recorder, the Cortez Journal, the Craig Daily Press, the Curry Coastal Pilot (Oregon), the Daily Trail (Vail), the Del Norte Triplicate (California), the Denver Daily News, the Denver Gazette, the Denver Post, the Durango Herald, the Eagle Valley Enterprise, the Eastside Journal (Bellevue, Washington), ESPN.com, Explore Big Sky (Mont.), the Fort Morgan Times (Colorado), the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the Greeley Tribune, the Huffington Post, the King County Journal (Seattle, Washington), the Kingman Daily Miner (Arizona), KUNC.org (northern Colorado), LA Weekly, the Las Vegas Sun, the Leadville Herald-Democrat, the London Daily Mirror, the Moab Times Independent (Utah), the Montgomery Journal (Maryland), the Montrose Daily Press, The New York Times, the Parent’s Handbook, Peaks Magazine (now Epic Life), People Magazine, Powder Magazine, the Pueblo Chieftain, PT Magazine, the Rio Blanco Herald Times (Colorado), Rocky Mountain Golf Magazine, the Rocky Mountain News, RouteFifty.com (formerly Government Executive State and Local), the Salt Lake Tribune, SKI Magazine, Ski Area Management, SKIING Magazine, the Sky-Hi News, the Steamboat Pilot & Today, the Sterling Journal Advocate (Colorado), the Summit Daily News, United Hemispheres (United Airlines), Vail/Beaver Creek Magazine, Vail en Español, Vail Health Magazine, Vail Valley Magazine, the Vail Daily, the Vail Trail, Westword (Denver), Writers on the Range and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Williams is also the founder, publisher and editor of RealVail.com and RockyMountainPost.com.

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