Page 18 - aruba-today-20170310

A18
SPORTSFriday 10 March 2017
Shiffrin
Continued from page 17
She’s trying to join Phil
Mahre, Tamara McKinney,
Bode Miller and Lindsey
Vonn as the only Ameri-
cans to win the overall
crown.
“I hope I am able to free my
mind and just race, rather
than feeling pressure,” Shif-
frin said in the email.
When closest rival Lara Gut
of Switzerland tore her ACL
in February, the overall
title appeared inevitable
for Shiffrin. But Stuhec has
caught fire to close the
gap. The remaining sched-
ule favors Shiffrin, though,
with four of the six remain-
ing events either slalom or
giant slalom. Stuhec has
one top-10 World Cup fin-
ish this season in the two
disciplines, while Shiffrin has
13.
“By the time I get to World
Cup Finals, I’m just going
to be riding the wave of
this winter, excited to be
finishing the season in my
home country and home
state, and happy to share
the last racing moments of
this season with U.S. fans,”
said Shiffrin, who turns 22
on Monday.
Winner Mikaela Shiffrin of the US poses on the podium after the women’s alpine combined competition at the Alpine Skiing World
Cup in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017.
As tempting as it may be,
Shiffrin resists looking back land.
on a season full of accom-
plishments, including a
3-for-3 performance during
the technical races in Sem-
mering, Austria, and win-
ning her first career World
Cup Alpine combined in
Crans-Montana, Switzer-
Those are reflections for an- said it should be “a blast”
other time.
“Right now, I find my mo-
tivation in the future — a
‘What more can I do?’ sort
of thing,” said Shiffrin, who In between races, Shiffrin’s
recently tested out the hill
for the 2018 Winter Olym-
pics in South Korea and
to race. “If I start reveling in world championships.
the past, it would become
all too easy to be compla-
cent.”
found time to unwind. One
of her favorite moments
was simply hanging out in
the hotel restaurant with
some of the other World
Cup racers after a city
event in Stockholm.
“I know that sounds odd
because I see a lot of them
at every race, but we are
usually so focused we don’t
get many chances to just
hang out, so that was pret-
ty fun,” Shiffrin said.
There’s also this: Leaning
out a taxi window and
waving the American flag
as the driver honked the
horn going down a crowd-
Associated Press
ed street in St. Moritz, Swit-
zerland, after winning her
third straight slalom title at
“At first, I was a bit uncom-
fortable because I didn’t
want to bother everyone
in town, but then I real-
ized most of those people
came to see the races and
the athletes and just want
to see us having some fun,”
Shiffrin said.
Once the final event is
over, Shiffrin plans to head
to Hawaii with her family for
some relaxation.
“It is so nice when we all
are moving at the same
speed, in the same place,
and get to spend some
time together for a little bit
— and that is what Maui
is for us,” Shiffrin said. “I’m
hoping it becomes a rou-
tine of sorts.”q