Mikaela Shiffrin Cheers 19-Year-Old Skier to Celebrate Her First World Cup Race at Crans-Montana

“Improving every day” were the words of Mikaela Shiffrin when asked whether she was competing at the World Cup races in Soldeu, Andorra. While she has also skipped the Crans-Montana now, it wasn’t that she was still recovering. Shiffrin has recovered but as she always does, she decided to skip the speed racing events. She also did something else that she always does. Cheering on her teammates no matter what.

The downhill race in Crans-Montana saw a couple of U. S skiers race to keep Swiss skier Lara Gut-Behrami away from tying Shiffrin’s 7 World victories this season. While they didn’t succeed in that, they made sure the 19-year-old skier remembered her start forever, and joining them from home was Shiffrin.

Mikaela Shiffrin celebrates 19-year-old’s first start

The World Cup downhill race in Crans-Montana saw U. S skiers Jacqueline Wiles and Allison Mollin ski down to beat Lara Gut Behrami who was looking at her 7th victory of the season to match Mikaela Shiffrin. Allison, 19, was skiing in her first-ever World Cup race, and Team U.S.A made sure to make it a memorable moment for her. Shiffrin joined hands, and in an Instagram story, welcomed her to the team. “Welcome to the World Cup, @amo_ski!’, she captioned.

Allison Mollin’s teammates made sure to make it a memorable moment for her. U. S Ski Team wrote a heartwarming welcome note for the 19-year-old as well. “You ski into the finish after your first World Cup. Your teammates are cheering so loud for you that the Swiss crowd joins in, and the stadium sounds no different than it did from the first racer, down to you, in bib 47“, the caption read as Allison took a ride on teams’ shoulders. America’s Best performer was Jacqueline Wiles who finished 13 as Shiffrin’s World Cup title hopes take a hit.

Lara Gut Behrami ties with Shiffrin

Last week, Lara Gut Behrami overtook Mikaela Shiffrin in the overall world Cup standings and today, the Swiss star has tied with Shiffrin for the most victories this season. Earlier, Shiffrin said that winning the overall world cup title was more important for her. If she manages to win the record breaking 6th title this season, the 28-year-old believes it will ‘be the biggest accomplishment’ of her life.

READ MORE: How Did Alpine Legend Mikaela Shiffrin Prepare Before Winning Her 93rd World Cup?

Shiffrin is set to miss the next weekend’s speed races as well in Val di Fassa and Kvitfjell but is expected to be back for the slaloms in Sweden. While Behrami will try to maximize the gap, the alpine skiing queen will need only two races to regain her position back.

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