Residents and guests of the Vail Valley will have the unique opportunity to welcome home their newest Olympic champion Friday evening, March 28, as the Vail Valley Foundation, the Town of Vail and Vail Resorts host the “Gold Rush” celebration for Mikaela Shiffrin. The free event is slated to get underway at 5:00 p.m. at the newly-renamed Championships Plaza at Solaris in Vail Village.
On February 21, the now 19-year-old Shiffrin became the youngest Slalom champion in Olympic Alpine Skiing history, with her .53 victory in Sochi over Austria’s Marlies Schild. Four days earlier, she made her Olympic debut with a fifth place showing in the Giant Slalom.
In addition to her Olympic exploits, Shiffrin recorded her fifth World Cup Slalom victory of the current season March 15 in Lenzerheide, Switzerland to wrap up her second consecutive World Cup Slalom title. Over the course of the past two winters, Shiffrin has claimed a total of nine World Cup slalom wins.
In addition to special presentations, the Gold Rush welcome home event will also include free music and autograph opportunity. At the conclusion of the event, all participants will be invited to join Shiffrin for a community photo that will be utilized to promote the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.