With all due respect to Lindsey Vonn, Mikaela Shiffrin is the sweetheart of American Alpine skiing. So it's appropriate she got something special for Valentine's Day: a second consecutive world champion title.
Shiffrin, a month shy of 20, added to her honors Saturday in Beaver Creek, Colo., by repeating as queen of the slalom. Her two-run total was 0.34 seconds faster than Frida Hansdotter of Sweden.
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Victory came thanks to a strong finish to her run.
"That took every ounce of my energy to pull myself together towards the bottom, not to blow it," Shiffrin told a television interviewer.
Here's how rare Shiffrin's victory was: Only one woman had consecutive titles after World War II. And only once has skiing seen a three-peat. Shiffrin could well match that achievement.
Beaver Creek is Shiffrin's home course, and she was comfortable between runs to take a nap.
Hansdotter leads this season's World Cup slalom standings, but even that didn't bother Shiffrin. Her precision in attacking the last gates carried her to gold.
"I've been training in ruts, slushy snow, anything to replicate what I might see on race day," Shiffrin said after her first run. "So I feel prepared. It's a beautiful day here, and Valentine's Day. I love the atmosphere. It will be my last day competing in the U.S. for a long time. I'm trying to soak it all in."