U.S. teen Shiffrin wins slalom gold

Mikaela Shiffrin might as well be dancing or flying.

That’s what skiing is like for the American teenager these days. The victories and milestones keep piling up, fortifying a U.S. team that is without Lindsey Vonn and Bode Miller.

At Schladming, Austria, a day after Ted Ligety became the first man to win three gold medals at a world championships in 45 years, Shiffrin became the youngest woman in 39 years to win the slalom title Saturday.

At the age of 17 years, 340 days, Shiffrin shook off a serious bout of nerves to edge local hope Michaela Kirchgasser from the lead before 30,000 fans who were nearly all supporting the Austrian.

The only slalom world champions younger than Shiffrin were Hanni Wenzel of Liechtenstein in 1974 and Esme Mackinnon of Britain in 1931. Overall, Shiffrin is the youngest women’s world champion since American Diann Roffe-Steinrotter, who was 21 days younger when she won the giant slalom title in 1985.

After taking the lead in the second run, Shiffrin watched Tanja Poutiainen of Finland and Frida Hansdotter of Sweden fail to match her time. Shiffrin finished in a combined time of 1 minute 39.85 seconds, with Kirchgasser 0.22 behind in second and Hansdotter third, 0.26 back.

Torin Yater-Wallace led an American 1-2 finish in the men’s freestyle skiing halfpipe event at Sochi, Russia, his second World Cup victory this season. Switzerland’s Virginie Faivre won the women’s race.

Yater-Wallace fell at the end of his first run but responded in the second heat and was awarded 93.8 points. Gus Kenworthy also had a better second run to secure second place with 90.0 points. Canadian Mike Riddle finished third.

U.S. teammates Noelle Pikus-Pace and Katie Uhlaender took the top two spots — by a wide margin — in the season-ending skeleton World Cup race on at the 2014 Olympic track north of Sochi. They did so hours after Elana Meyers and Aja Evans won silver for the Americans in the women’s bobsled finale on the circuit.