Mikaela Shiffrin thrills crowd of 11,000 at Copper Mountain with 104th World Cup win

Mikaela Shiffrin wished to perform Sunday for another huge crowd at Copper Mountain that turned out to cheer on the home state heroine in a World Cup slalom but she requested them to know they came through for her in a big way too Feeling heavy legs from jet lag trip fatigue and a demanding giant slalom at the highest elevation on the women s World Cup the day before Shiffrin posted the fastest times in both runs and claimed her th World Cup achievement by seconds She has dominated all three slaloms this season It was about as hard as I thought it was going to be just a lot of fatigue in the legs commented Shiffrin who arrived here from Europe on Monday The crowd totally carried me down the hill Even from the start when I hear people cheering sometimes I feel pressure In contemporary times the louder they were the harder I pushed just let them take me down the hill She was nervous too not just because she didn t want to let down a Colorado crowd estimated at that included hundreds of young girls pressing up against finish corral fencing and cheering for all they were worth She knew it was going to hurt She compared it to facing a grueling interval workout knowing it would be painful ignoring the temptation to back off and pushing through with everything she had You know it s going to be terrible she explained and you have to do it anyway Holding records for World Cup wins and World Cup slalom wins plus seven world championships gold medals and three Olympic medals she still yearns for excellence at age I don t know how she stays so motivated reported her mother Eileen one of her coaches I almost feel like she s just conditioned to go out and ski the best she can possibly ski That just seems to be her baseline She still gets really really nervous at the races She burst onto the scene in as a world slalom champion from Vail at age then became the youngest Olympic slalom champion at the Sochi Olympics In those days she talked a lot about focusing on process rather than results It was something her late father Jeff preached relentlessly Therein lies the source of her motivation even now Honestly it s the same it s process Shiffrin disclosed I am so obsessed with the feeling I get between the start and the finish when it s good It s not like anything you can t even explain it to people It s just such a beautiful feeling And when I can improve that a little bit that s motivating To anticipate it to visualize it and then to execute it and to definitely get to the bottom and see that it was indeed well done that s like the best feeling She has that in slalom but she s searching to regain it giant slalom In October she was fourth in the season s first GS in Soelden Austria and she was th in Saturday s GS here The women s Olympic GS looms on Feb Getting back to top form in GS will be yes a process and it s also a top priority It s going to take time Shiffrin mentioned The previous evening Saturday s GS was specific mix of relief and excitement to be in a place where I can fight for tenths and hundredths and adjustments in a GS That was just a cool feeling United States' Mikaela Shiffrin competes during a World Cup women's slalom skiing race Sunday Nov in Copper Mountain AP Photo Robert F Bukaty A year ago at Killington Vermont she crashed hard in a giant slalom and left the resort in an ambulance having suffered a puncture wound in her abdomen that would keep her out of action for two months She raced only one individual event at the world championships in February finishing fifth in slalom skipping the GS Related Articles Huge crowd turns out to see Mikaela Shiffrin race at Copper Mountain Nothing beats the thrill of watching downhill daredevils ski at mph at Beaver Creek Shiffrin narrowing her focus to fewer events for Milan-Cortina Olympics after challenges in Beijing Mikaela Shiffrin entering Olympic season with more confidence but still skipping downhill She joked about that Sunday the difference between last year s World Cup giant slalom slalom weekend for the women in the U S compared to this year s We re walking away from the U S weekend and I do not have a puncture wound she stated wryly That is just super nice Not that there was much doubt but she officially qualified for fourth Olympics with Sunday s win It is pretty incredible she revealed When you re at the top of sport particular of these things become like an expectation When I can say I ve qualified that s a huge step and we have to celebrate those moments Want more sports news Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver s teams