Over the past couple of days in Killington, Vermont, close to 40,000 fans showed up over the course of the weekend to cheer on their favorite athletes on the women’s tech circuit. Fans could only see as far as seven gates from the finish during the slalom event Sunday morning, but that did not deter them from showing up in droves. 15,000 people braved the ice and rain to catch a glimpse of the fastest women in slalom chase victory. And the athletes put on a show.

Not only did crowd favorite Mikaela Shiffrin earn her and 45th career victory and third consecutive slalom at Killington (0.59 seconds ahead of second place finisher Petra Vlhova), but two other Americans also finished in the top 30 for the first time in a long time.

20-year-old Nina O’Brien was first out of the gate second run, followed by Paula Moltzan of the University of Vermont who started three racers behind her. Both Americans laid down some of the best runs of their careers. For O’Brien, it was her first time scoring World Cup points. She even got to sit in the “winner’s” chair for a run. By the time each racer finished, O’Brien ended up 23^rd overall.

“It feels pretty awesome, definitely a breakthrough for me today,” she said smiling. “I’ve been trying to get into the top 30 for a while now. I started my first World Cup ski race a few years ago, and it’s not easy, but it feels really good.”

Moltzan who finished 17^th overall will head back to class at the University of Vermont in the morning, alongside her UVM teammate Laurence St-Germain, who finished 14th for Canada. She was feeling both humbled and amazed, stoked to have finished so well on home soil with friends, family, and teammates there to cheer her on.  She said the crowd’s energy played a major role in her performance and drove her to ski some of the best turns of her life.

“I know my top felt not that great but as soon as I came over, that last break over, you could hear the crowd and I was like ‘Alright, it’s go time. They’re all watching,’” she told Ski Racing, still out of breath as she made sense of what had happened. “The first run felt really connected really put together, the snow was awesome, and being able to run third is kind of next level for me and a surreal moment…having Nina go first and just watching her crush the top gates and then thinking “okay it’s my turn”. It was really fun.”