American teenager Mikaela Shiffrin is halfway to making Olympic history.

Eghteen-year-old Shiffrin, from Eagle-Vail, Colorado, had the fastest first-run time in the Womens’ slalom this afternoon in Krasnaya Polyana, racing in less-than-ideal dull, rainy conditions.

Shiffrin’s impressive run of 53.29 seconds beat the defending Olympic champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany by 0.49 seconds.  She was also ahead of the defending World Cup overall champion, Slovenian skier and double Sochi gold-medallist Tina Maze, by 0.67 seconds.

If Shiffrin’s two-run time is the fastest (second run is floodlit at 8:15 p.m. Sochi time), she will become the youngest women’s slalom champion in Olympic history.