Avon, CO – Slalom World Champion Mikaela Shiffrin earned her first Audi FIS Alpine World Cup giant slalom podium on Sunday, taking second behind Sweden’s Jessica Lindell-Vikarby who herself earned her first giant slalom win during the final event of the Nature Valley Raptor women’s World Cup week at Beaver Creek Resort in Colorado.

After laying down an inspired first run for the roaring hometown crowd, Shiffrin of the nearby Colorado community of Eagle produced a fluid final run that nearly snatched the win away from Lindell-Vikarby.

“It’s my first GS podium and I’ve been working on my GS so it’s a big relief to be able to get on the podium and know that I’m actually doing something right,” said Shiffrin, a slalom specialist whose previous best GS result was a sixth in Soelden, Austria to open the 2014 Olympic season. “It’s my favorite slope and two amazing courses with awesome conditions. I don’t really think they could have done much better with this hill today, so I just tried to take advantage of that.”

U.S. Teammate Julia Mancuso, of Olympic Valley, Calif., made the top 30, advancing to the run final in 28^th but missed a gate and did not finish her second run.

“Yea, it’s definitely a step in the right direction but still a little off on time,” Mancuso acknowledged. “We have a lot of races and I feel like it’s tougher once you reach a certain level in your career. When you have ups and downs you have to remember that it keeps going. When you’re having breakthroughs when you’re younger everything seems to work a little easier. When you’ve been around for a long time it’s hard when you’re struggling to find that extra bit of energy.”

Overall, Canadian racers enjoyed a better day in Beaver Creek on Sunday than their U.S. counterparts, with career-best giant slalom results from Marie-Pier Préfontaine and Erin Mielzynski and another strong performance from Marie-Michèle Gagnon giving Canada three racers in the top 20.

Préfontaine, of Saint-Sauveur, Quebec, matched her career best result from 2011 when she tied for ninth Sunday on the back of a storming second run. Mielzynski, of Collingwood, Ontario, is one of the world’s best slalom skiers but Sunday’s 16^th-place finish was her first top-30 result in giant slalom, while Gagnon, of Lac-Etchemin, Quebec, finished 13^th to continue her strong start to the season.

“That was sweet. In my second run I finally skied like I can,” said Préfontaine, who had the fifth-fastest second run of the day. “I’ve been working so hard on finding a way to ski like I do in training. Today I skied like normal in the second run, like I do in training. Hopefully I can do it again!

“In my whole time with the team, we’ve never had three girls in the second run of the giant slalom. One of the coaches said it was the first time since 2006,” she added.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Alpine Ski World Cup
Beaver Creek, Colo. – Dec. 1, 2013
Women’s Giant Slalom