By David Schissler – Although the races are without doubt the main event of any Alpine World Cup, it’s often what happens off of the hill that adds the spice to attending. Here are just a couple of comments I picked up around the venue.
When asked if performing before 18,000+ crazed, screaming fans was stressful Mikaela Shiffrin replied, “Killington doesn’t add stress. It adds energy.” In a slope-side interview after placing 4th in the Killington Cup GS, she was asked what happened in the second run? She said “I think I enjoyed it too much!”
Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway placed 2ndin the GS. At the after event press conference she was complimented for spending so much time signing autographs for star struck young girls all over the venue. She was asked why she does it. Her response, “I am one of those girls.”
I ran into Tamara McKinney and reminded her of an afternoon spent at a Gerry Ford celebrity event in Vail back in the day. She was sitting at a table in the VIP tent with my wife Ann, me and Franz Klammer. One of the event sponsors was a vineyard. Yes, the grape flowed freely. She told me she remembered the time as “the day I learned not to try and out drink an Austrian.”
Shiffrin vs Hirscher? Could be, someday. On Thanksgiving weekend 23 year-old Mikaela Shiffrin won her 45th World Cup race at the Killington Cup slalom. After the race she answered questions from the media. Here’s what I asked her, her surprising response, and her thoughts on Austrian slalom ace Marcel Hirscher.