Schladming, Austria – Teen Mikaela Shiffrin skied a powerful, aggressive second run to come from behind to win gold in slalom at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Schladming on Saturday.

Third after the first run, Shiffrin overcame a .18-second lead by Sweden’s Frida Hansdotter, who took bronze. Austria’s Michaela Kirchgasser won silver. It was the first World Championship medal of their careers for each of the medalists.

“This morning I woke up, did my warmup and my muscles just all morning felt sluggish and tired like I was still sleeping. I struggled through the first run, made a mistake at the top and just couldn’t move my feet fast enough. As I got down the run my legs started waking up,” Shiffrin, of Eagle, Colo., explained. “In the second run, two minutes before start I felt my muscles come alive, my head cleared and all of a sudden it was like a whole new day.”

A sold out stadium of over 30,000 was on hand in Schladming for the final weekend of the Championships.

“I heard them (the crowd) from the start. I heard them cheering or maybe booing (laughing) I don’t know. They brought me to the finish line today,” Shiffrin said. “I found the finish with plenty of time. I know there are a lot of people out there supporting me including my family, my coaches, my sponsors. I have so many people to thank and the crowd is just one of them.”

Shiffrin became the third youngest woman to ever win a slalom World Championship and youngest American to win any title since 17-year-old Diann Roffe won gold in giant slalom in 1985. She’s also the first American to win a Championship or Olympic slalom since Barbara Cochran won at the 1972 Olympics and World Championships in Sapporo, Japan.

“There were a lot of emotions today,” Shiffrin explained. “The main one was trying to find a moment on the hill where I could just smile because I felt I was skiing well and handling the conditions well. I just wanted to feel my skis take me down the hill and I did.”

It was the fifth medal for the USA and fourth gold from these World Championships. Ted Ligety, of Park City, Utah, won in super G, super combined and giant slalom. Julia Mancuso, of Squaw Valley, Calif., earned bronze in super G.

“Ted was so inspiring these World Championships,” Shiffrin said of Ligety’s accomplishment. “It’s really hard to have a good race every few days and that’s what he’s done. You get tired and you’re trying to extend your mental capacity for an entire two weeks. He seems to have done it flawlessly.”

Resi Stiegler, of Jackson. Wyo., was the only other American entered in Saturday’s race, finishing 22^nd. Canada’s  young ladies’ slalom team had its hopes of earning a first world championship podium dashed as Marie-Michèle Gagnon and Erin Mielzynski finished 13^th and 17^th, respectively.

“Coming into World Championships we had some great preparation, so it’s a big disappointment for it to end like this,” said Hugues Ansermoz, head coach of the Canadian women’s team. “It’s the first time we’ve experienced being in the situation of being a medal contender. This is a big lesson but the biggest races are a year from now (the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games). We need to do some things differently than we did here if we want to have a chance of winning medals in Sochi. We need to be better.”

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships
Schladming, Austria – Feb. 16, 2013
Women’s Slalom