Mikaela Shiffrin, an American teenager, battled snow and rain in winning a World Cup slalom race on Sunday in Bormio, Italy.
It was Shiffrin’s second World Cup slalom win of four races this season. The 18-year-old won by a combined two-run time of .13 seconds over Maria Pietilae-Holmner of Sweden.
“I was really psyched to win again,” Shiffrin said to the AP, following her 2:00.41 combined time. “It’s been a fight all season and I feel like if I’m not perfectly ready, then the win goes to somebody else. So I was really trying to prepare myself and be ready to go today no matter what the conditions or the visibility.”
“It’s always a big confidence booster to have good skiing in different conditions,” she said. “I never wanted to be a racer who could only win on hard snow or just soft snow, or just a steep pitch or just a flat.”
Lindsey Vonn, still debating a return date ahead of Sochi after aggravating her knee again, didn’t compete.
Shiffrin is expected to compete three more times ahead of February’s games – a Jan. 14 slalom in Austria followed by two races in Slovenia in early February.
