So, the first time Mikaela Shiffrin competed Spindleruv Mlyn in the Czech Republic was her World Cup debut in a giant slalom on March 11, 2011.<\/p>\n
Shiffrin was 15, finished 43rd and was 4.64 seconds off first-run leader and eventual winner, Viktoria Rebensburg. Italy\u2019s Denise Karbon finished second and Lindsey Vonn was third.<\/p>\n
In the slalom on March 12, 2011, she was 32nd, just 5-hundredths of a second out of 30th. The top American that day was Sarah Schleper in 11th and Marlies Schild, whose slalom records Shiffrin has already surpassed, won.<\/p>\n
On March 13, 2011, Shiffrin didn\u2019t ski, but she did turn 16.<\/p>\n
We bring this up because we\u2019re startled that Shiffrin was ever 4.64 seconds behind anyone, even at the age of 15. Shiffrin is returning this weekend to Spindleruv Mlyn for GS and slalom on Friday and Saturday and we have no idea how to pronounce Spindleruv Mlyn.<\/p>\n
The good news is that Shiffrin tried to teach us via Facebook on Tuesday. If you\u2019re brave enough, she says it phonetically, \u201cShhpindleroov Mleeeen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nHow to correctly pronounce “\u0160pindler\u016fv Ml\u00fdn”\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n
Ahoj! How do you correctly pronounce “\u0160pindler\u016fv Ml\u00fdn”?! Let’s try (Shhpindleroov Mleeeen)\u2026How’d I do, Ester Ledeck\u00e1?! Third time’s a charm?? ??????Looking forward to \u0160pindler\u016fv Ml\u00fdn this weekend!! It was my very first World Cup in 2011, so it’s a special place for me with good memories. The Czech fans have always been wonderful and I can’t wait to go back to \u0160pindler\u016fv Ml\u00fdn. D\u011bkuji!! ??<\/p>\n
Posted by Mikaela Shiffrin<\/a> on Tuesday, March 5, 2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
How about we just call it the World Cup tech events in the Czech Republic?<\/p>\n
On a more serious note, the white circus hasn\u2019t been to \u2014 ahem \u2014 Spindleruv Mlyn since that 2011 stop, so Shiffrin has never even made a flip there in her entire career, much less ever won there.<\/p>\n
She could be in trouble, people. Or not.<\/p>\n
The comparison<\/h2>\n
What is staggering is that two years after her first two starts in Spindleruv Mlyn, she was already on \u201cThe Late Show with David Letterman,\u201d<\/a> having won her first slalom globe.<\/p>\n
In her fourth start, a slalom in Aspen during Thanksgiving 2011, she earned her first World Cup points by taking eighth. By her eighth start, she earned her first podium in a Lienz, Austria, slalom. In a wee bit of adversity \u2014 at least on a Shiffrin scale \u2014 it took her all of 24 starts to win on the World Cup \u2014 Are, Sweden, slalom on Dec. 20, 2012.<\/p>\n
By the end of that 2012-13 season, she wins her first World Cup slalom title as well as her first FIS Alpine World Ski Championships gold medal. In fewer than seven years, she\u2019s won 57 times on the World Cup, have five Worlds golds and two more from the Olympics.<\/p>\n
I abhor the whole Shiffrin-Vonn comparison thing. I only bring it up because what we saw with Vonn was, in theory, a once-in-a-generation phenomenon. While different in skiing background, general personality and approach to competition, what they do share is a level of dominance. When Vonn was at the height of her powers, everyone else was racing for second.<\/p>\n
And that seems to be the case now with Shiffrin, which brings us to this weekend and Spindleruv Mlyn. (I\u2019ve watched Shiffrin\u2019s video several times and still can\u2019t pronounce it.)<\/p>\n
Another globe or two?<\/h2>\n