she was 11 they then sought a guru at a ski academy who was in accord with their developmental theories when shiffrin went on the world cup tour at age 15 her mother eileen went with her against the wishes of the countrys top ski authorities mother and daughter continue to travel togetheralong the way shiffrin has racked up victories and become almost as famous for her ability to win with a demeanor and poise uncommon for a teenagerit was all on display again on her sports biggest stage in the mountains north of sochi even in the usually antsy hours before her race shiffrin was at easeshe may have been waiting all her young life for fridays race but her day began typically she ate breakfast with her parents and briefly wandered the united states ski teams hotel where there are common areas for the athletes to gather and connectshiffrin came across members of the nordic combined team who stenciled a red white and blue usa in temporary paint on her neck she had lunch in a noisy cafeteria with glass walls that overlooked the snowy slopes and then with fans around the world agog in anticipation of the showcase event for the sports newest star shiffrin took a napimagecreditdoug millsthe new york timesshiffrin is renowned for being able to snooze at midday anywhere at her first major junior championship she had to be awakened minutes before what became a recordsetting runon friday it was the winter olympics shiffrin sleptperhaps that is why she looked so at peace several hours later as she pushed out of the gate for the first run which she dominated taking nearly a halfsecond lead in an event often decided by hundredths of a secondshiffrin led the field at every timed interval down the racecourse which drops about 600 feet top to bottomin the second run many of the top medal contenders faltered shiffrin did too but survived her misstep to attack the course aneweven with a major mistake shiffrin the worlds best slalom skier since she was a high school junior outclassed the competitioneileen shiffrin said of her daughter she is a gifted slalom skier if you watch it is really pretty skiingimagecreditdoug millsthe new york timesmikaela shiffrins success comes from neither extraordinary strength nor speed although she works out for several hours daily she is admired for the purity and simplicity of her form as she descends a mountain and she knows ski racing tacticswhen shiffrin saw that the slalom gates were set up to be roughly 9 to 10 meters apart instead of the usual world cup distance of 10 to 11 meters she had a planit just means you have to move your feet quicker she said and that makes you fasterin the end racing down the icy pitch here under floodlights and before a grandstand of 18000 shiffrin still had time to look back on the whole process of her ski racing careeryou think of so many things that