Smiling Mikaela Shiffrin inspired by US teammates and boyfriend, wins opener

SÖLDEN, Austria — One of the crucial becoming congratulations for Mikaela Shiffrin arrived some 5 hours after she gained the World Cup season opener on Saturday — and it got here from one other American snowboarding nice.

“Inspiring to see you succeed and extra importantly to see you smile. Congrats @MikaelaShiffrin,” her former teammate Lindsey Vonn wrote on Twitter.

Shiffrin was actually all smiles after successful the enormous slalom on an Austrian glacier on an ideal sunny day for her seventieth World Cup victory, leaving her 12 wins in need of the ladies’s report held by Vonn, who retired in 2019.

“My objective was to ski nicely, and with fireplace,” Shiffrin mentioned after the race, through which she fought a good battle with GS world champion Lara Intestine-Behrami.

Shiffrin did ski nicely. The 2-time Olympic champion finally edged her Swiss challenger by .14 because the pair left the remainder of the sector nicely behind, with defending total World Cup champion Petra Vlhova an enormous 1.30 seconds behind in third.

And Shiffrin did it with fireplace.

One purpose it flared up had been her teammates and coaches from the U.S. ski group, who went by way of an intense two-week preparation previous to Saturday’s race.

“My teammates had been snowboarding actually quick, pushing even tougher in coaching than the pace they’d right now,” Shiffrin mentioned. “We’ve simply been pushing the bounds each day. I by no means felt like snug or happy.”

Not simply Shiffrin benefited from the joined apply classes: 4 of the 5 American starters made the flip after the primary run and ended up scoring World Cup factors.

Nina O’Brien even received a career-best lead to GS by ending ninth, enhancing three locations from her earlier greatest, which got here within the final race of final season.

“For me personally, I used to be actually nervous earlier than the primary run. It’s undoubtedly a aid to have one race completed. I confirmed some good snowboarding, all in all I’m happy,” mentioned O’Brien, who confirmed her greatest GS abilities on the world championships final February, when she completed runner-up to Shiffrin within the first run.

“It’s actually good if I could be there with the highest women,” O’Brien added. “I didn’t fairly present it right now, however hopefully I can discover these good turns and good snowboarding within the subsequent races.”

AJ Damage completed twentieth, simply two spots in need of her private greatest. Additionally, Paula Moltzan positioned twenty third, after ending tenth within the season opener a yr in the past. Solely Keely Cashman didn’t qualify for the second run.

“They’re pushing the tempo actual excessive, so I’m pushing too. It’s been a extremely good buildup and an effective way to start out the season,” Shiffrin mentioned.

“I’ve to maintain elevating my degree, too … everyone is hungry. I really feel that motivation and it’s so superb to have that tempo coming from the USA. That’s particular.”

Shiffrin mentioned she additionally gained from the presence of her boyfriend, 2020 males’s total World Cup champion Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who was watching on from the end space.

The Norwegian, who made his relationship with Shiffrin public in an Instagram post last May, talked to Shiffrin between runs and hugged her after the race.

“He’s a lot enjoyable to speak to about snowboarding,” Shiffrin mentioned. “I like understanding that he’s watching. We’re going to speak about it later: what was good, what can I do higher?”

The arrival of Kilde has brightened up Shiffrin’s life once more, following two tough years which included the lack of her grandmother in October 2019 and the dying of her father lower than 4 months later.

“It’s superb,” Shiffrin mentioned about her relationship with Kilde. “I all the time used to suppose that having a boyfriend can be such a giant distraction, but it surely’s actually simply so good.”