By USSA

SQUAW VALLEY — Olympic slalom gold medalist and World Cup slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail) continued her storybook season Thursday with a victory in the Nature Valley U.S. Alpine Championships giant slalom.

To kick off the first day of spring, the 19-year-old technical phenom posted a 1.5-second first run lead before expanding it to a massive 1.88-second margin of victory.

It was the third U.S. title of her young career, adding to the slalom titles she locked in 2011 and 2012.

Julia Mancuso (Squaw Valley), who has won the giant slalom title for five straight seasons dating back to 2009, posted a blistering second run to jump from ninth to third.

Race conditions again proved to be perfect on the challenging Red Dog at Squaw Valley.