Levi, Finland – Seventeen-year-old Mikaela Shiffrin converted a trip to the Arctic Circle into the second Audi FIS Alpine World Cup slalom podium of her career after finishing third in Levi on Saturday. Olympic slalom champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany won withfirst run leader and hometown hero Tanja Poutianen in second as wind and challenging light drifted in and out of both runs.

“I felt confident because I had a plan to just ski like I do in training and I knew I could do that,” said Shiffrin. “I wasn’t worried about what place I was going to come in. I was definitely nervous but I knew I could execute my plan.”

While she doesn’t yet have a driver’s license or a high school diploma – the Eagle, Colo. resident graduates from Vermont’s Burke Mountain Academy next spring – Shiffin’s podium came in only the 12th World Cup slalom start of her young career. The first came on Dec. 29, 2011 when she also finished third in Lienz, Austria, earning the vote of her peers as Audi FIS Alpine World Cup Rookie of the Year.

“After Soelden she was a little frustrated,” U.S. Ski Team technical head coach Roland Pfeifer said of Shiffrin’s 31st place result in the season opening giant slalom held last month in Austria, finishing only 0.1 seconds from earning a second run. “She had good training runs and her expectations were really high. She was a little nervous that it would be the same in slalom – ski great in practice and not accomplish her goals in the race – but she worked through the pressure and skied with confidence.

“She has a full team of coaches here to support her and she knows the expectations we all have on her. In the end, it’s up to her to ski the way she knows she can and she did that in Levi. I couldn’t be more proud of her,” Pfeifer concluded.

Shiffrin was third after Saturday’s first run and held her position to finish .74 seconds behind  Hoefl-Riesch after tweeting “Let’s dance” between runs.

“It’s a quote from Avatar,” Shiffrin explained. “One of my friends and I used to use that quote all the time. In the movie, he’s trying to tame a wild beast. It helped me get in the right mindset.”

Reigning overall champion Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso both opted to skip Levi and instead stay in Colorado to train for the Nov. 24-25 Nature Valley Aspen Winternational in Aspen.

“We’ll be back in Colorado on Tuesday and begin training again with Resi [Stiegler] to start our preparation for Aspen,” Pfeifer said of the rest of the U.S. women’s team.

Saturday was good to the Canadian women as well, as Quebec’s Marie-Michèle Gagnon produced a storming second run to claim a tenth place finish while teammate Erin Mielzynski, of Guelph, Ontario, tied for 14^th and Brittany Phelan, of Mont-Tremblant, Que., picked up the first World Cup points of her career with a 28^th-place result.

“I was a lot better in the second run. I was in the zone and just generally attacked,” said Gagnon, who started eighth but was 18^th after the first run. “I’m happy, for sure. I expect more but I’m glad I got the jitters out of the way in the first slalom race.”

Hugues Ansermoz, head coach of the Canadian women’s team, was happy to leave Levi with a solid set of results.

“We finished well. The team is happy, the girls are happy,” Ansermoz said. “We wanted one top-10 and one top-15 and we got that.”

Mielzynski, the first Canadian since 1971 to win a World Cup slalom race, was a disappointing 29^th after the first run but skied well in her second run – which featured a dramatic recovery on the steep final pitch in Levi.

“I had nothing to lose in the second run and the place I finished is my ranking in the world,” said Mielzynski. “I said I would start by taking steps and I have.

“I held back, for sure, in the first run. What happened was my fault – I struggled a bit,” she admitted. “It’s hard having a first run like that but I’m looking forward to Aspen.”

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup
Levi, Finland – Nov. 10, 2012
Women’s Slalom