ASPEN, Colo. — “Is my career ahead of schedule?” Mikaela Shiffrin, the precocious Olympic and world ski racing champion, asked here on Monday, her 22nd birthday. “No, I don’t think I’ll ever believe I’m ahead of schedule.”
That is truly bad news for the other women’s ski racers of the world.
Shiffrin, before even racing in the finals this weekend, will win the women’s World Cup overall title, the sport’s top prize, which is a monumental achievement at any age. Shiffrin had built a nearly insurmountable lead in the season-long World Cup standings, and on Friday, her only remaining competitor, Ilka Stuhec, withdrew from Saturday’s slalom, handing the overall title to Shiffrin, who becomes only the third American woman to win it, and the first since 1983 not named Lindsey Vonn.