Last spring, a 16-year-old Mikaela Shiffrin was pleasantly surprised to win her first national title in the slalom. A year later, a much more experienced Shiffrin returned to Winter Park, Colo. today (March 28) and successfully defended her title with a 1.7-second winning margin.

“It feels great, I love being in the U.S and winning a race here,” said Shiffrin, a Vaill, Colo native. “It always feels good to win, but to know, at any point, I can drive home and sleep in my own bed is a little comforting. I’m  just really happy to be back here, I love racing at Winter Park and I love slalom so it’s a good match.”

Shiffrin, this season’s FIS alpine World Cup rookie of the year, led the way after the first run by 0.93 seconds. The hot Colorado sun had softened the course some for the second run, but Shiffrin, the 30th racer down the course, charged through the ruts to win my nearly two seconds ahead of Hailey Duke in second. Kiley Staples was another 0.66 seconds back in third place for her first nationals medal.

Shiffrin’s season, her first on the full World Cup tour, was highlighted by her first podium finish (third in Linez slalom), three other World Cup top-10 finished and appearances at the Junior World Championships (third in the slalom) and World Cup finals.

“It was an amazing season, it was really fun,” said Shiffrin. “I tried not to have any expectations but I know what I hoped for and I definitely hoped for a podium. I hoped for top tens in slalom and I actually hoped for a little more with my GS but you can’t get everything and I was just really excited with what I did get.”

Duke collected her third career national slalom podium and her first since 2008.

“It’s been a really tough year and I’ve started to come around during the NorAms and my skiing came back and I am psyched about that,” said Duke. “And I am trying to keep it going and I was able to muster it up here for two more runs at the end of the year and I am pretty psyched. “Its so nice to come back have the whole family environment I’m overwhelmed by the support here in Winter Park.”

Shiffrin also led the junior skiers in the field followed by Lila Lapanja with the junior silver medal (fourth overall) and Paula Moltzan taking the junior bronze (fifth overall).

Absent from today’s race were American big guns Lindsey Vonn and Julia Macuso who are both expected to compete in Saturday’s giant slalom.

Today’s race also served as a farewell to 14-year U.S. Ski Team veteran Sarah Schleper, who retired from the World Cup tour earlier this season. “It’s good to get back with my teammates and see everyone racing again,” said Schleper, who was disqualified after missing a gate at the bottom of the first run. “There is a lot less pressure but I still want to bring the heat and compete against these guys. I still feel like I have some speed. I haven’t trained gates since I retired, so I was a little rusty.”

The 2012 U.S. National Championships will continue in Winter Park Thursday with the men’s slalom.