Shiffrin set up as Olympics star; Vonn, Hirscher big, too.
If Mikaela Shiffrin continues to race as well as she has been, she is setting herself up to be the biggest star of the Pyeongchang Olympics. Not just of Alpine skiing, but the entire Winter Games.

To put it simply: She is about as close to unbeatable as can be right now.

Shiffrin, a 22-year-old American, won the first five women's World Cup races she entered in 2018, and seven of her past eight on the circuit, competing against the best the world has to offer and outclassing them time and again. And Shiffrin is not merely winning — she is overwhelming opponents, sometimes collecting victories by more than 1.5 seconds, a large margin in a sport often decided by hundredths.

Born in Colorado and raised in New Hampshire and Vermont, Shiffrin was 18 at the 2014 Sochi Games when she became the youngest Olympic slalom champion in history. Her 41st career World Cup race win, which came in January, equaled the highest total for a ski racer under 23.