The Superstar slope continues to be home, sweet home for skiing’s biggest superstar.

After Sunday’s commanding 0.33-second victory, Mikaela Shiffrin has won six of the seven World Cup slaloms held at Killington Resort.

“It’s amazing to do this, especially here, with the home crowd,” said the Edwards skier, who honed her skills nearby at the Burke Mountain Academy as a teenager.

“It’s just such a good vibe and there’s a little extra intensity because we want this to be good for you guys to watch. I hope it was a good show.”

The World Cup’s all-time winningest Alpine skier nabbed career-victory No. 90 on the second day of the Killington World Cup weekend — she was third in the giant slalom on Saturday. It was also her 55th-career World Cup slalom win and second victory of the 2023-24 season. Shiffrin was handed the Nov. 12 slalom in Levi, Finland, when Petra Vlhova threw away a one-second lead by straddling a gate and posting a second-run DNF. On Sunday, Vlhova finished second, but Shiffrin — who had the fastest first and second runs — didn’t need any good fortune to claim the top step this time. The American’s two-run time on the 200-meter drop was 1 minute, 42.02 seconds.

“It’s a tough battle,” Shiffrin said of the dual with Vlhova. “I think it will be all season, but it’s amazing to be able to have this performance over these last two days here — especially here, with all these people.”

After the first run, Shiffrin had a 0.19-second lead on Lena Duerr of Germany and 0.28-second advantage on Vlhova.

“I feel like I’m not playing with it as much as I want to, but it’s really good, solid technique, it’s really solid power,” the American said after the first run.

“There’s somehow another percentage that I’m trying to push and trying to get back, but I think that was a really, really good first run.”

An aggressive second run from Vlhova, the defending Olympic champion in the event, put pressure on Shiffrin, the last athlete left in the starting gate.

“I did not feel good (on the first run),” Vlhova stated. “Second run, I needed to push.”

As she waited to go, Shiffrin said she could hear her opponents’ support staffs erupt after Wendy Holdener and Vlhova’s scintillating performances.

“You’re like, ‘I don’t know how fast it was, but I know it was good,'” Shiffrin said. “Then Petra (went), I heard it and it was like, ‘oh, I hope I can hang on for this.’ Every time I heard somebody cheer for their athlete, it was like, ‘OK bring more intensity, more intensity.'”

The 28-year-old lost half of her first-run lead by the first split, but gradually gained it back throughout the course.

“In the end, second place again here, so you know when I crossed the finish line I thought ‘OK, maybe it can be enough,’ but Mikaela was stronger and she shows really good skiing,” said Vlhova, who also finished second in the slalom at Killington in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021. The Slovak, who was relatively quiet last season but has looked sharp in three slaloms this year, is looking forward to going head-to-head with Shiffrin throughout the 2023-24 season.

“It’s going to be a tough season,” she said.

On Sunday, the rivals were once again well clear of the rest of the field. Holdener would round out the podium, but finished a full 1.04 seconds back from Vlhova, who was 0.33 off of Shiffrin’s pace.

“I was more nervous the second run than the first, but happy I made it,” the 30-year-old Swiss skier said.

For the second day in a row, Paula Moltzan finished in eighth place as the second American.

“I pulled out some resilient skiing after that mistake but the crowd is what pulled me through. I could hear them from the top,” Moltzan told U.S. Ski and Snowboard’s Sierra Ryder. “Although eighth isn’t really what I wanted, it’s a great result to end the weekend.” 

Ski and Snowboard Club Vail alumna Allie Resnick finished 49th in the first run, failing to qualify for a second.

Shiffrin leads both the slalom and overall cup standings and is fourth in the giant slalom. She’ll have a chance to move up in the latter category next weekend, as the World Cup continues with a pair of giant slaloms in Tremblant, Canada on Dec. 2-3.

Back-to-back and two-for-two.

Lara Gut-Behrami won the World Cup giant slalom Saturday afternoon in Killington, Vermont for the second-straight year. In doing so, the 32-year-old Swiss Olympic super-G champion has opened the 2023-24 GS calendar with two-straight wins.

“Honestly I don’t know,” she answered when asked about the key to her success on the Superstar slope. The eight-time world championship medalist’s combined two-run time was 1 minute, 53.05 seconds.

“I’ve been fighting a lot through these low points the last year. But, I’m just feeling confident right now with my GS skiing, so everything feels easier. I’m enjoying what I’m doing, so that helps.”

Alice Robinson, the first-run leader, finished 0.62-seconds back in second and Mikaela Shiffrin was 0.81-seconds off the lead to round out the podium.

“I am super, super excited,” the Edwards skier said on the NBC Sports broadcast. “Thirteenth here last year in the GS, being able to come back and sort of conquer the hill in a way that I haven’t before, especially after the last few weeks of prep, that’s been an enormous success today. There’s still work to do.”

Shiffrin has finished sixth, fourth, first and third, respectively, in her first four races this season.

Robinson was in good position to claim a fourth-career World Cup win after the first run. The 21-year-old two-time Olympian from New Zealand held a slim advantage over the defending Olympic champion in the event, Sara Hector, and Gut-Behrami in third. Sitting 0.21 and 0.23-seconds back, respectively, were Marta Bassino and Shiffrin.

“I’m actually so happy with my run,” Shiffrin said after the morning session. “It took me a couple of turns to get into my rhythm, but then I think it’s actually the best GS I have skied on this hill.”

Robinson said she was “more excited than nervous” as she waited from the pole position for her second run.

“I was so happy with my first run; it was a bit unexpected,” she stated.

“And then second run I wanted to go for it. Definitely had a few mistakes, which maybe cost me the win, but it was so tight after the first run that anything could happen.”

Shiffrin called Gut-Behrami’s final run “spectacular.”

“She has this mentality to keep making speed no matter what and that’s the level that we all want to get to, have to get to,” Shiffrin stated.

The victory made Gut-Behrami the first Swiss female skier since Sonja Nef to win back-to-back giant slaloms.

“For me, it’s amazing,” the 2021 GS world champion told the Associated Press. “Two years ago, I won the world champs, like 20 years after Sonja. Now back-to-back (GS wins), like her, it’s amazing for me.”

Paula Moltzan finished eighth and A.J. Hurt finished 19th for the U.S.

“It was a great second run,” Moltzan said. “I’m happy to be able to pull it out and show all the American fans the fast skiing I’ve had this last couple weeks.”

Moltzan said the course conditions were “phenomenal.”

“We were lucky to get some wet New England weather that then froze up, so the snow has been really great,” she said. “I think it was a really fair surface for all the athletes.”

“And A.J.’s first run was so awesome and she’s been showing that speed in training more and more consistently,” Shiffrin said of Hurt, who was in 12th after run No. 1.

“It felt good; still, it’s a two run race” Hurt said. “But it feels really good to put one down. My plan was to ski really confidence and be aggressive and fight my whole way down and not let the course ski me.”

With two more giant slaloms set for Dec. 2-3 in Tremblant, Canada — meaning four of the 11 scheduled will be completed by the end of next weekend — Shiffrin said it was important to “set the tone” skiing on home snow Saturday.

“I want to start this stretch strong, so that’s helpful to feel like I have a bit more secure focus and mentality for the coming races next weekend,” she said, adding that it never gets old coming into the finishing straight seeing fans adorned in red, white and blue.

“Every year it’s so spectacular. It’s astonishing to me every single time I come over the break over — it’s so much noise, it’s so much energy.”

The World Cup weekend closes out with a slalom on Sunday. Shiffrin won the first five slaloms contested at Killington from 2016-2021 before placing fifth last year.

Mikaela Shiffrin was featured on the cover of Outside’s “Outsiders of the Year” November-December print magazine, which hit newsstands this week. She and her mom, Eileen, were also featured on the brand’s podcast — in a unique format.

“In my 20-plus years of writing and editing and producing for Outside, I’ve seen a lot of creative approaches to storytelling,” stated podcast host Michael Roberts during the introduction to his Nov. 15 show. “But having an elite athlete interviewed by her mom? That’s a new one.”

Senior editor Abigail Barronian arranged the interview and generated a list of questions to send to Eileen and Mikaela, but also encouraged the mother-daughter pair to allow the conversation to be organic.

“We’ve done Mikaela profiles before, several times, and we just wanted to get something a little more genuine and raw. We really liked it because we thought that it would maybe give us an opportunity to see a version of Mikaela that you don’t normally see,” Barronian stated before adding that the plan worked.

“I came away from this interview more interested in Mikaela Shiffrin and Eileen than I ever have been.”

At the beginning of the interview, Eileen got the chance to ask her daughter the question every reporter has asked over the last eight months: what it felt like to break Ingemar Stenmark’s all-time World Cup wins record.

“Oh gosh. I was mostly worried that I was gonna do it when you weren’t there,” Mikaela answered.

“I know. That’s when I said just do it,” Eileen came back.

Mikaela described the record-breaking moment as “kind of hectic.”

“Mostly because you get about ten and a half seconds to yourself and then, and then you’re sort of thrown into the media and the mix zone and you have to start talking about how you feel before you’ve processed how you feel,” she said. “I didn’t even feel it. And I was like, ‘oh my gosh, where’s mom?'”

Barronian thinks that quote exemplifies the relationship.

“Eileen represents Mikaela professionally and helps her with her managing her team and her schedule,” she stated. “(She) helps Mikaela develop her own training programs and think about what she needs to focus on with races, but (it’s) underpinned by this just, like, deeply loving, supportive, and trusting parent-child relationship.”

Producer Paddy O’Connell narrated Shiffrin’s move from Colorado to Vermont, saying, “As Mikaela’s racing career took off, Eileen was there every step of the way and grew into her most trusted coach. In fact, the two times Eileen stepped away from coaching, Mikaela’s results suffered.”

Barronian noted the criticism the Shiffrin’s have received for Eileen’s intimate involvement, which she believes is “deeply maternal” and the result of Mikaela being thrust into the public eye as a teen prodigy.

“When the nature of your life changes so dramatically at such a young age, it makes a lot of sense that you would want this really constant figure to be there,” Barronian said.

Mikaela and Eileen would catch up on walks a couple times a week while at Burke; Mikaela said at one point, the parent of a classmate suggested the closeness was “kind of strange.”

“And that’s kind of how a lot of people have been through my whole life, through our whole relationship,” Mikaela said.

“I just remember, like, that particular conversation on that walk and us both being kind of frazzled by the question, because it was like, what’s wrong with being close to your family, you know?”

“Yeah. You and I have a multifaceted relationship. I’m your mom, and to some extent your manager, and to some extent your coach, and we’re also best friends,” Eileen responded. “And a lot of people assume that, and ask you, I guess ask both of us, if it was hard for us to develop that multifaceted relationship.”

When asked by her mom how the relationship has evolved as she’s stepped into new roles over the years, Mikaela said she felt their closeness — which she called a “fundamental premise in our family philosophy — has always been “a gift.”

“I was like, ‘please look, come look at my skiing with me, help me,’ you know, ‘help me figure out what I want to do next technically.’ And let’s have dinner and like, you know, let’s let’s hang out. You know, it was just, it was such a natural thing. It’s always been that way,” the 28-year-old said.

“I feel like a factor that’s set me apart through my ski career to have that closeness with you and with dad and Taylor and just with family in general.”

In the second half of the interview, Eileen asked Mikaela what the hardest part of widespread fame has been.

“You are kind of naturally an introvert who was put in a spotlight and kind of forced to assume a role on the ski team and also a role as a, trying to be a role model for other kids, other athletes on the team,” Eileen said in kicking off the topic.

“It’s forced me a little bit to learn how to be a bit more comfortable with myself,” Mikaela answered before explaining that at Burke Academy, if she had to go to the cafeteria alone, she simply skipped meals.

“I had such a fear of like showing up … to a room alone when it’s already full, there’s no seats open and you’re just carrying your tray and you’re standing there like everybody’s already in their conversation. Nobody’s missing me.”

Although she said a similar fear-based response remains her “natural instinct,” Shiffrin also stated she feels more comfortable “with myself to just do what I need to do, exist how I want to exist and not be quite so worried about what eyes are on me anymore.”

Even though coaches, managers, and other authority figures have guided her life for so long, the Olympic champion said she’s never fought for her independence.

“It’s more just been a learning experience, I think,” she said. Eileen added she thinks Mikaela has “stayed true” to the personality she was born with.

“From my perspective anyway, throughout it all, you are able to hold on to that kind of kind, gentle, compassionate personality and not succumb to the peer pressure that goes on during the teenage years when there’s so much pressure to be cool,” Eileen said.

“It didn’t really seem to matter to you because you had so much on your plate already. You just seemed to keep your eye on the target all the time. You never seem to think it was uncool to be kind.”

Shiffrin said her mom has kept her grounded, especially in moments where she’s tempted to adopt the “air of coolness” inherent to a sport which includes flying down an icy slope at 70 miles per hour.

“There’s kind of this extra swagger that I, we’ve always felt like it’s a little bit unnecessary. But when you’re around it a lot, you feel like it’s an eat or be eaten world and you have to, you have to fend for yourself,” Mikaela said.

“And you have always brought me back down to earth in those scenarios and helped me kind of remember, OK, I can just be me. It’s enough.”

Since 2016, all 10 of the World Cup slalom events in Levi, Finland have been won by either Petra Vlhova or Mikaela Shiffrin. That trend continued Saturday, the first day of back-to-back competitions, as Shiffrin’s chief rival posted a statement win.

“I am really happy because you know, honestly I didn’t expect so much of a gap between me and Lena and Katharina,” Vlhova said after her dominant 1.41-second victory. The defending Olympic slalom champion’s combined two-run time on the 180-meter Levi Black course was 1 minute, 50.59 seconds. German Lena Duerr (1:52.00) finished second and a resurgent Katharina Liensberger (1:52.14) rounded out the podium as Shiffrin (1:52.29) was left 0.15-seconds off in fourth.

“You know I feel good, I am enjoying skiing and I feel confident,” Vlhova continued. “Of course before the race I’m a little bit under stress because you don’t know where you are but at the end, I won again here and it’s amazing.”

Vlhova — the slalom crystal globe winner in 2019-20 and 2021-22 — put herself in good position to become the sixth woman with 20-career World Cup slalom wins with her blistering 53.79-second first run. The 28-year-old Slovak held a 0.18-second advantage on Duerr and was 0.42 seconds up on Shiffrin, who sat in the bronze position at the halfway point.

“I feel quite happy with my first run,” the Edwards skier told the Associated Press in-between runs, adding that her recent training accident did not affect her in the race.

“It’s not perfect, but it’s not holding me back from skiing strong,” she continued. “Last week, we did a really good job to push into a kind of training in the gym, trying different things, different loading. By Thursday, I was able to do a full intensity training session.”

Last season, Shiffrin was on the podium in 10 of the 11 slalom events (including six victories), with the only exception coming in Killington, Vermont, where she placed fifth. Her success in Levi has been historic. Coming into the event, only her and Vreni Schneider (six in Maribor) had ever accrued six slalom wins at a single venue. Now, Vlhova also owns six reindeer — the prize given to winners at the Lapland resort sitting 170 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle.

Liensberger, who won the slalom globe during the 2020-21 season but struggled to a 15th-place finish last season, spiced up the competition from bib No. 21 with a fluid and fearless final dash. The 26-year-old was excellent in the third sector all morning; she recorded the second-fastest split on the first run and the fastest in the final. The three-time Olympic medalist was rewarded with a trip to the leader’s chair as the last three skiers prepared to enter the starting gate.

Shiffrin didn’t hold back through the upper portion of the course, emulating Liensberger’s style but still losing 0.08 seconds to the Austrian. She maintained a clean rhythm in the second sector, gaining back 0.14 seconds. In the transition portion of the course, however, Shiffrin was forced to salvage multiple turns, losing critical momentum right at the time where Liensberger was at her finest.

Regarding the day as a whole, Shiffrin said later she felt pleased to be able “to push” and “bring in a race mentality, race intensity, (and) really put energy into the turn.”

“Having said that … the training I had beforehand felt really great, but then it’s been 10 days, so the feeling’s not locked into my muscles right now,” she said.

“So in some ways, I felt like I was a little bit searching for the right line, searching for the right pressure.”

She diagnosed her “bobbles” on the second run as a result of not “getting into the committed enough position.”

“And sort of misdirecting myself, like shooting my skis across the hill when I should be more skiing down the hill,” she said.

Duerr, 32, the oldest athlete in the race, gained 0.06 seconds in the opening split but lost almost a half second in the next. In the third sector, she ceded another 0.60 seconds, but recovered enough on the final flat to kick Liensberger off the chair.

Though a neck-and-neck narrative had been written thus far, Vlhova would blow it up.

The Slovak, who has said she will focus more exclusively on the tech events through the next Olympic cycle, bolted out of the gate and tore apart the upper section. Racing as if she needed to gain a half-second on the field instead of preserve such a lead, she posted the fastest first sector on both runs. The lead only increased, as her flawless skiing earned her the second-fastest third sector and the fastest final en route to a season-opening slalom win.

“Petra was out of this world. I’m not sure I can beat that right now, but I’m also not trying to,” Shiffrin said. “I’m just trying to get my feet under me, bring the mentality into it, and hopefully get my timing a little bit better so I can have cleaner turns (and) be more active throughout the course.”

The only other American to earn a second run, Paula Moltzan (1:54.43) placed 15th on the day.

“Today was a good start to the slalom season for me,” Moltzan stated. “Happy with how I skied some sections of the course but I am hoping to find some more speed and put it all together tomorrow! The top girls skied amazing today and I am going to try and vibe that.”

The women’s World Cup continues on Sunday with another slalom in Levi. The first run is set for 2 a.m. MST, with the final to follow at 5 a.m.

For the last year, all the talk has been about the most-winningest Alpine skier in World Cup history. At Saturday’s season opening giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, Lara Gut-Behrami decided it was time to remind everyone who is next in line behind Mikaela Shiffrin on the women’s active-skier all-time list.

The Olympic super-G gold medalist overcame Federica Brignone’s huge first-run lead to edge the Italian by just 0.02 seconds in the first event of the 2023-24 campaign. The 32-year-old Swiss star blitzed the 370-meter Rettenbach slope in a combined time of 2 minutes, 18.94 seconds to claim her 38th-career (and sixth-career giant slalom) win.

Former overall winner Petra Vlhova (2:19.08) rounded out the podium in third while Shiffrin (2:20.34) finished 1.4-seconds off the win in sixth.

“It was a little bit messy in some spots, but I liked my mentality going into the second run better — a little bit trying for race mode. I was just not able to execute perfectly,” Shiffrin said before offering praise to the podium placers.

“Having said that, the top women today, they skied just unbelievable,” she continued. “I think there is a lot for everybody to learn from them, and Lara especially. … That was really pretty sweet to watch.”

All of the main characters expected to be in contention looked sharp in the first run of the day. Brignone finished a full half-second ahead of Sweden’s Sara Hector while Vlhova and Gut-Behrami sat in third and fourth, respectively. Shiffrin had the second-fastest first sector and the quickest third, but gave back considerable time in the second to slot into fifth, 0.75 seconds off the lead.

Brignone, who at 33 was looking to become the oldest woman to win a World Cup giant slalom race, told the Associated Press she was surprised to be in the lead, especially considering she barely got on snow to train the previous week.

“I don’t know. Last week wasn’t good with the weather so I didn’t know where I stand, but today I’m very happy,” the Italian said.

Shiffrin, looking to become the third skier to win at least six successive World Cup giant slalom events (Ingemar Stenmark won 14 in a row from 1978-1980 and Deborah Compagnoni won eight straight in the 1997-1998 season) after claiming the final five last year — looked tired as the hard-packed slope deteriorated underneath sunny 1-degree Celsius temperatures. The 28-year-old brought a conservative approach to the upper portion of the pitch, losing time in each of the first two sectors. She eventually opened things up at the bottom, but could only gain back a few tenths in her 250^th-career start.

“It’s a challenging race, but it’s a good one because you can really see where your weaknesses are, where your strengths are,” Shiffrin said.

“I think we have a good direction to work for the next couple weeks before the next GS races.”

American Paula Moltzan secured the second-fastest second run (1:09:44) of the day, moving up from 28th after the first run to finish 11th.

“Going into second run, there was nothing to lose. It finally felt like I got all the skiing that I’ve been doing in training out on the race hill today,” Moltzan said.

“The goal is to just keep moving forward with that and hopefully do two runs like that next time.”

With her third-career win in Soelden, Gut-Behrami became the third woman — after Renate Gotschl (14) and Lindsey Vonn (13) to win at least one World Cup in 13 seasons. It was the second straight year the Swiss skier has won the first giant slalom event of the season, as she was victorious in Killington, Vermont last November.

The women’s World Cup continues in Levi, Finland with a pair of slaloms on Nov. 11-12. In 2022, Shiffrin won the back-to-back races.

“Last season, I took really quite a long time to build into my top form,” Shiffrin said. “Hopefully I get there a bit faster this season, but this is an OK place to start.”

Mikaela Shiffrin’s 2022-23 season was defined by her pursuit of Ingemar Stenmark’s all-time World Cup Alpine ski wins mark. It appears the 2023-24 campaign, which begins with a giant slalom in Soelden, Austria on Saturday, will also be characterized by record-chasing.

Though Shiffrin told Reuters earlier this week there was “nothing left on my to-do list,” in Thursday’s Zoom press conference she was asked if tying Annemarie Moser-Proll’s career-record of six overall crystal globes this year would go down as her greatest achievement.

“She’s a complete trailblazer in ski racing and I would say that if I am able to match that title or the six overall, that would be probably the biggest accomplishment,” the 28-year-old said of the Austrian legend, the only skier whose prodigious ascent in the sport makes Shiffrin look like a late-bloomer. The now 70-year-old won five straight overall titles before taking a season off at the age of 22. She closed out her career placing second twice in a row, winning a sixth time, and then taking second once more before retiring at the age of 26.

“Everybody gets to have their own opinion on that, but personally, that’s been one of my biggest goals,” Shiffrin continued. “That’s the thing that I talk about.”

In fact, while questions have swirled throughout the busy, ESPY-winning, TIME 100 Magazine-honoring, Taylor Swift-singing off-season on whether or not World Cup wins No. 87 and 88 would remove Shiffrin’s drive, the Edwards superstar feels nothing has really changed in terms of concrete objectives.

“I was like, ‘why should I lose motivation after accomplishing something that I never truly set out to accomplish?'” she rhetorically asked in reference to Stenmark’s record before adding that her focus every year is to win the award given to the season’s best skier.

“It just kind of resets every year,” she said of striving for crystal globes. “And I guess that’s where my head’s at.”

Last year, Shiffrin won three world championship medals (giant slalom gold and slalom and super-G silvers). She also amassed 14 victories and a career-best 2,206 points en route to slalom and giant slalom discipline globes — and of course, her fifth overall globe as well. Even with all the successes, the Shiffrin camp has seen some changes heading into Soelden.

Karin Harjo takes over coaching duties from Mike Day, Shiffrin’s coach from 2016 until last March. Shiffrin had only praise for Day in the press conference, but also said Harjo is an exceptional communicator who has transitioned seamlessly into the team. She also mentioned Harjo’s implementation of equipment data-tracking initiatives.

“That’s been something that I really wanted to explore a little bit more, but I never really got up the motivation to do it,” the Atomic-sponsored skier said. “And finally with Karin, she seemed to have some tools and knowledge to help me find a better system to track the skis that we do.”

Shiffrin’s other adjustment for 2023 involved traveling to Europe for the season eight days sooner than she has in the past, in hopes of not having to “rush into race mode.” Interestingly, when last year’s Soelden event was canceled, Shiffrin said she was relieved, having felt “not up to the task” in pre-race training sessions.

“And it made me think, OK, I need to think about my prep period a little more in-depth and try to plan basically a little bit more time to get a little bit more of a better progression in my preparation,” she said. “So that’s what we did this year.”

Illnesses derailed her hopes of a perfect build-up however, as Shiffrin dealt with food-poisoning at the end of her on-snow camp in Chile. That was followed by a mysterious sickness when she came home.

“I’m not sure what it was,” she said. “It tested negative for COVID, but … I would not wish that on anyone.”

She was unable to train for a week-and-a-half before coming to Austria this month.

“So, this period getting back on snow and kind of doing the final prep has also been a build back into my strength and conditioning as well,” Shiffrin said, noting that she was stronger in her final physical tests this year than she’s been in the last couple. Though she admitted the timing of her illnesses was poor, the youngest Olympic slalom champion ever feels like she’s in a good place now.

“I feel a lot more prepared, skiing-wise, this year for this race than I did last year. But my mentality for this race this year is different than it has been,” she said.

“This year I’m trying to take a little bit more of an approach of giving myself time to build into my best form.”

The last time the Solden GS was run, Shiffrin took the win. If her long-range approach to the season happens to start out with a bang this weekend, too, that wouldn’t exactly be a problem.

“If I feel amazing on Saturday,” Shiffrin said.

“I’ll take it.”

After securing GOAT status with career World Cup wins No. 87 and 88, Mikaela Shiffrin doesn’t feel like there are any more objective carrots to go after.

“There’s actually nothing left on my to-do list, to be perfectly frank. I don’t know if I really had a to-do list to begin with but if I did, we’re good now,” the 28-year-old told Reuters on Tuesday.

The need for speed, however, remains.

“But I still somehow feel like I want to keep skiing. I want to see how far I can go in the sport. How much faster can I ski? I feel like still I’m getting faster.”

The five-time overall Crystal Globe winner begins her 13th full World Cup season (her debut was in March of 2011) in Soelden, Austria on Saturday with a giant slalom. She told Rory Carroll that she plans to fill this non-global championship year with more downhill and super-G events.

“It’s an opportunity for me to explore doing a few more speed races. I won’t do it if I feel like I’m not prepared but if my preparation feels good, then it would be kind of exciting to try,” she said.

“I feel like a lot of athletes actually get injured in these ‘off years’ because they take their foot off the gas. One of my big goals for this year is to not be complacent.”

When asked about the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics in 2026, Shiffrin said she was pleased to see the Games return to a “more typical” Alpine skiing venue.

“The past couple of Olympics I’ve felt like we’ve been in locations that had to scramble to find a way to do it,” the two-time gold medalist said, adding that despite leaving Beijing without a medal, she rated her 2022 Olympics a “10 out of 10” because of the life lessons she learned. She also told Carroll that she’d be OK not winning another gold medal.

“I guess that speaks to where I am in my career. I’m lucky to be able to say that because for a lot of athletes that’s the final step in their careers,” she continued. “I mean, look at (Novak) Djokovic. That’s the only thing he hasn’t gotten yet. And it’s like, gosh, I feel lucky to be one of the athletes that can say it’s okay. Basically I have enough gold. But the hunger is there, that’s for sure.”

DePriest competes at World Cup big air event in Chur

Ski and Snowboard Club Vail’s Brooklyn DePriest placed 46th at the World Cup big air event in Chur, Switzerland on Oct. 21. Japan swept the podium at the World Cup freestyle skiing and snowboarding opener, with Hiroto Ogiwara, Kira Kimura and Takeru Otsuka taking the top-3 spots respectively.

It was the third-career World Cup start for DePriest, 17, a U.S. Ski and Snowboard rookie team member. The defending slopestyle national champion said earlier this month that his goals are to compete at the Mammoth Grand Prix World Cup Feb. 2-3 and make the 2024 Youth Olympics squad.

FIS council holds fall meetings

The demand for Mikaela Shiffrin’s versatile range isn’t solely reserved for the slopes, where she’s capable of winning World Cup downhills and slaloms on any given occasion. The Edwards superstar is getting used to answering a wide swath of media questions, too.

At Thursday’s Atomic media day in Altenmarkt, Austria, the 28-year-old fielded predictable inquiries about her off-season reset and new-season goals after surpassing Ingemar Stenmark for the most career World Cup Alpine skiing wins last March. She also relayed what she told tennis star Iga Swiatek after the 22-year-old dropped from the No. 1 world ranking. As if that wasn’t enough of a press conference potpourri, she explained how her dancing hobby translates to on-snow success.

“It’s just like an expression of your body,” she said regarding the latter topic. “Everybody has a style of skiing; I think everybody also has a little bit of a style of dancing. I tend to be pretty stiff with my arms when I’m skiing and when I’m dancing, it’s the same, so it’s things that sort of translate across just the way your body moves.”

On Sept. 16, Shiffrin and her boyfriend Aleksander Aamodt Kilde posted a spontaneously choreographed music video to ABBA’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” made during a training camp in Chile while dressed in their respective American and Norwegian race kits and Atomic ski boots. The Instagram post elicited a response from fellow Olympic gold medalist Jessie Diggins — whose social media pages are filled with similar impromptu dance sessions.

Did she expect it to go viral?

“Yes. That’s why we did,” Shiffrin joked during the media day, with Kilde at her side. The 31-year-old, who won six World Cup downhill races en route to his second-straight discipline globe, was asked about his first in-person meeting with Austrian legend Hermann Maier.

“I was kind of feeling like a kid again,” he said. “The most fun was to talk about different races — talk about Kitzbuhel, talking about Lake Louise, Beaver Creek.” Shiffrin said meeting Maier was “a full fan moment,” for her as well.

She was then asked about what it meant to be named to TIME’s “100 Most Influential People” list of 2023.

“That kind of recognition is actually pretty hard for me to understand or fathom,” Shiffrin said, adding that her highlight was meeting people at the actual event.

“There’s people in the world who are doing much greater things than I am. And for me, it’s just inspiring to see how they manage themselves, how they put themselves out there and how they fight for incredible things.”

During an offseason that also saw her awarded the ESPY for best female athlete, Shiffrin came into contact with multiple celebrities, including Swiatek. In advance of the 2023 Laureus World Sports Awards (both were nominated for Sportswoman of the Year), the pair chatted on Instagram about how the rise to fame has made trusting people difficult. On Thursday, Shiffrin was asked if she’s since met up with Swiatek in person. Shiffrin said she hasn’t, but does text her and would love to see the Polish star in a match at some point.

“I don’t know if she feels this way, but what I see is, I don’t know, modesty, but then a security in herself that you don’t often see with athletes so young that also have the success,” Shiffrin said of Swiatek.

“I didn’t know who the heck I was — I still kind of don’t — and somehow she just seems like she has certain things that are straight in her head. The answers she has now, already in her career, I wish I had those at that time in mine.”

Swiatek was ranked No. 1 in the world for 75 weeks, but is currently No. 2.

“What I said to her is ‘whatever, that’s coming back,'” Shiffrin said regarding losing the top ranking. “It’s the mentality that you have that’s unbeatable, so just keep going.”

After winning 14 races and racking up a career-best 2,206 World Cup points in 2023, Shiffrin was asked if it “was difficult to shut down after the season and start with the basics again” after all the records, numbers and questions.

“I’m not sure. Maybe I just still didn’t shut down yet. Now that you ask that question, I might have done the whole summer wrong,” she said. “I think sometimes it’s nice to keep going.”

Kilde then hopped in, explaining that for both athletes, being in familiar places with family is how the couple resets. Shiffrin mentioned spending time at Kilde’s summer cabin in Norway; they’ve also spent time in Edwards.

“There is a reset and you get some distance from the sport, I just don’t really like think about it,” Shiffrin added. “We did our thing, and now we’re back and excited to race again.”

The 2023-24 World Cup season kicks off Oct. 28-29 in Soelden, Austria. When asked whether she has a specific goal after accomplishing what she did last season, Shiffrin answered, “Actually, no.”

“I would like to maybe, ideally, improve my downhill performance a little bit more but that doesn’t really mean winning. It’s just improving the skills that I think have fundamental, but can get better,” she continued.

“Also super-G as well. And then with slalom and GS, the coolest thing for me last season was I felt a consistency with my skiing and my mentality that I never really felt before. So that was just exciting to go into each race feeling pretty excited to actually race. So hopefully, a big goal is to try and keep that mentality going.”

One name stands out amongst the 55 athletes who have accepted their nomination to the 2023-24 U.S. Alpine Ski Team: Mikaela Shiffrin.

The winningest Alpine skier in history headlines the official roster, announced Oct. 9 in a U.S. Ski Team press release. Joining Shiffrin are fellow Edwards skiers River Radamus and Nina O’Brien, though O’Brien will sit out this year after re-fracturing the leg she broke at the 2022 Beijing Olympics while training in New Zealand last month.

All in all, there are 12 athletes across the A, B, C and D teams who list Ski Club Vail as their home club. SSCV athletes Liv Moritz and Hunter Salani are first-year members to the U.S. team.

The World Cup season — which includes 21 women’s events and 20 men’s events — begins Oct. 28-29 with a giant slalom weekend in Soelden, Austria. The non-global championship season ends with the World Cup Finals in Saalbach, Austria March 16-24.

“We are very excited to start the season in Soelden this month,” stated Patrick Riml, Alpine director, in the release.

“Our group of athletes across speed and tech made big strides last season and the work continued this summer. We are confident they will impress on the World Cup tour and bring home solid results for our organization and nation.”

In an Oct. 6 press release, FIS confirmed 11 World Cups — four Alpine, one cross-country ski, three freeski and snowboard, two freestyle and one ski jumping — in the U.S. for the 2023-24 season. That includes two new hosting locations in Minneapolis, MN, which will host the first cross-country World Cup in the U.S. in more than 20 years, and Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, which is hosting a moguls World Cup.

“We are so excited to have such a robust lineup of World Cups in the United States this season,” stated president and CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard Sophie Goldschmidt in the release.

“We broke records when we announced nine World Cups last season, and having 11 this season shows our commitment to bringing elite skiing and snowboarding competition to the states to inspire audiences from coast to coast.”

U.S. Alpine Ski Team roster: Ski and Snowboard Club Vail and other local athletes

(Hometown; club; college; birthdate)

A team

• Mikaela Shiffrin (Edwards, CO; Burke Mountain Academy/Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; 3/13/1995)
• Paula Moltzan (Prior Lake, MN; Buck Hill Ski Team/Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; University of Vermont; 4/7/1994)
• Nina O’Brien (Edwards, CO; Burke Mountain Academy/Team Palisades Tahoe; Dartmouth College; 11/29/1997)
• River Radamus (Edwards, CO; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; 2/12/1998)        

B team

• Kyle Negomir (Littleton, CO; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; Dartmouth College; 10/3/1998)

C team

• Allie Resnick (Vail, CO; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; Dartmouth College; 9/1/2001)
• Ava Sunshine (Encinitas, CA; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail/Burke Mountain Academy; 6/20/2002)
• Bridger Gile (Aspen, CO; Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club/Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; 10/15/1999)

D team

• Kaitlin Keane (Vail, CO; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; Dartmouth College; 11/26/2004)
• Kjersti Moritz (Edwards, CO; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; Middlebury College; 11/28/2004)
• Liv Moritz (Edwards, CO; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; University of Denver; 11/28/2004) *
• Emma Resnick (Vail, CO; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; Dartmouth College; 7/23/2003)
• Hunter Salani (Edwards, CO; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; 02/25/2005)

*Newly named to the Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team

Spire Condominium unit No. 3415 is up for sale. According to Your Castle Real Estate broker Ben Babbit, it looks pretty similar to other condos.

“Honestly, there’s units like this all over the place,” Babbitt said to 9news.com.

Breathtaking views and modern elegance are part and parcel to any of the other 34th-floor condos, of course. But, the Atomic skis, emblazoned with statements like “Most Women’s Alpine World Cup Slalom podiums,” or “Most Alpine Ski World Cup Wins by any skier in history (88)” aren’t exactly standard wall decor.

That’s because the condo belongs to Mikaela Shiffrin.

According to 9news, “the Shiffrin family bought the condo back when the Spire was first built and have used it as their city sanctuary ever since to spend time as a family before heading out to World Cup races.”

After suffering a tibial plateau fracture, bone bruise and grade 2 MCL tear in her right knee during the 2015 season, Shiffrin began her rehab process in the Spire gym and on the living room floor of the condo. Photos from the 9news story show her late-father Jeff watching from the kitchen.

“It’s a place that’s close to my heart and I have so many memories of my dad and so much time we spent there with him,” Shiffrin told 9news.

Shiffrin shared Babbit’s post on her Instagram.

“This place gave me so many memories,” she commented.

“…rehabbing my knee in 2016… the numerous times we almost lost muffin in one of the elevators… beginning of spring first pool deck sun bathing… take-out pizza shared with family around the kitchen island… I will miss it with all of my heart and I hope the next buyer loves the place as much as we do.”

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The two-bed, two-bath, 1,099-square foot condo is listed for $745,000

“It’s Colorado history,” Babbitt told 9news. “Mikaela is a historic person worldwide but for Colorado we’re so lucky to have her in our backyard.”

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