Huge crowd turns out to see Mikaela Shiffrin race at Copper Mountain

COPPER MOUNTAIN Maybe it was because the Winter Olympics are only nine weeks away Having Mikaela Shiffrin s name on the marquee certainly was a factor given that the winningest ski racer of all time was performing on a hill only minutes from her home in Edwards But the overflow throng of thousands that assembled in Copper Mountain s East Village base area for a women s World Cup giant slalom on Saturday was far bigger than what Beaver Creek attracts for men s World Cup every December Crowds were big for the men s races held here on Thursday and Friday marking the return of World Cup racing to Copper for the first time in years but Saturday s turnout was enormous COPPER MOUNTAIN USA - NOVEMBER Mikaela Shiffrin of Gang United States in action during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women's Giant Slalom on November in Copper Moutain USA Photo by Gabriele Facciotti Agence Zoom Getty Images I m psyched Shiffrin explained of the crowd after finishing th on a technically challenging discipline To come out the weekend after Thanksgiving people could be doing a lot of other things right now it s really exciting to see so multiple people And there s so much enthusiasm It s just amazing to be home and to have this kind of turnout Copper hadn t hosted World Cup racing since when early season races scheduled for Aspen were moved here because of insufficient snow there There was a similar situation two years earlier when races scheduled for Park City Utah were moved here It s been a long long time since we ve had this level of racing declared Copper Mountain general manager Dustin Lyman so I m not surprised people sought to come out and see the racers Shiffrin unveiled the first run tricky because of variations in snow conditions finishing th seconds behind eventual winner Alice Robinson of New Zealand She took a different approach in the second run I had to do a pretty big readjustment of my technical cues Shiffrin declared This surface is so specific It s just really arduous to be really fast consistently for the whole run Her second run was better and she moved up four spots in the final standings I was able to execute of the run really well so I m psyched Shiffrin reported It s hard to change your mentality between the first and second run of race to really put that into play and execute it I feel like I was able to do that for the the greater part part While she s still working on her early season GS form she dominated the first two slalom races of the season in Finland and Austria with huge winning margins and will be the favorite in Sunday s slalom her best event She goes into the race with World Cup wins more than the second-winningest racer Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden She doesn t expect it to be easy Sunday will mark the first time this season that the women have competed on consecutive days and it will be at an elevation of more than feet All the women who did this race we re all going to be really feeling our legs I m already feeling my legs revealed Shiffrin It s been long progress days in consecutive weeks Then we come to the highest race that we re going to see all year to do the first double-race weekend It s a tough schedule at the beginning of the season COPPER MOUNTAIN USA - NOVEMBER Mikaela Shiffrin of Club United States reacts during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women's Giant Slalom on November in Copper Moutain USA Photo by Gabriele Facciotti Agence Zoom Getty Images Shiffrin s fiance Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde returned to racing on Thursday nearly two years after a horrifying downhill crash at Wengen Switzerland that left him with severe leg and shoulder injuries Shiffrin commented watching him push out of the starting gate was so incredible and inspiring and emotional He was in the finish area to watch her race on Saturday and will race at Beaver Creek next weekend Want more sports news Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver s teams