Turning 20, Mikaela Shiffrin wonders when she’ll stop being a rookie

ARE, Sweden – Mikaela Shiffrin’s days as a teenage sensation are over – and she doesn’t mind one bit.

The American has been Alpine skiing’s wunderkind for so long that she can’t wait to celebrate her 20th birthday on the giant slalom course in Are today.

“It’s something that I’ve been thinking about a bit. People are like ‘rookie Mikaela Shiffrin,’ ” she told the AP on her last day as a teenager. “Why don’t I count as a veteran yet? What do I have to do? Do a backflip on skis in the race?”

Having collected more silverware in her teens than most skiers do in a lifetime, she doesn’t need to do anything, really. Shiffrin already has Olympic and world championship gold medals, 13 World Cup wins, and two crystal globes for the best slalom skier.

In Are – the penultimate stop on the World Cup circuit – she’s looking for a strong result in the giant slalom, but her main focus is the slalom on Saturday, when she will be trying to protect her lead in the World Cup standings in that discipline. Shiffrin pushed Sweden’s Frida Hansdotter into second place by winning the previous slalom in Maribor, Slovenia.

“I was really excited in Maribor to take back the lead, but I know it’s not that easy to keep,” Shiffrin said. “I know Frida is going to put up a fight.”

Hansdotter, who was second to Shiffrin at the world championships and trails the American by 30 points in the slalom standings, promised to do just that.

“I’m hoping it’s going to be a fight right until the end,” said Hansdotter, who will be racing before her home crowd. “Last year (Shiffrin) was a bit more dominant. But now it’s tighter.”