26 Jan 2023

Shiffrin keeps on winning

5:50 am on 26 January 2023

Mikaela Shiffrin has taken a record-extending 84th women's Alpine skiing World Cup victory by completing a back-to-back giant slalom double in the Italian resort of Kronplatz.

Mikaela Shiffrin USA skier

Mikaela Shiffrin Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Still fizzing from yesterday when she moved clear of retired compatriot Lindsey Vonn with a record 83rd win, the unstoppable American kept her calm to dominate the first run and then triumph by a hefty 0.82 seconds.

Norway's Ragnhild Mowinckel was second and Sweden's Sara Hector finished third.

New Zealand's Alice Robinson was ninth.

Shiffrin, 27, is now only two wins short of the absolute record of 86 wins racked up by Swedish men's slalom great Ingemar Stenmark in the 1970s and 1980s.

"I think between the second race in Kranjska Gora (Jan. 8, when she equalled Vonn's record) and these two races yesterday and today it's the best GS skiing I ever did," she said.

"I feel so good with it. I love the feeling I have on GS skis right now. It's a pleasure to race but for sure it's also stressful.

"After yesterday I was quite tired today and I'm on not the best moment in my monthly cycle so I'm like emotional and tired and I just want to sleep."

The victory took Shiffrin's career World Cup giant slalom tally to 19 wins, one short of retired Swiss great Vreni Schneider's women's record of 20 in the discipline.

She can tie Stenmark at the weekend if she wins two slaloms in the Czech resort of Spindleruv Mlyn but the record will have to wait until after the world championships on French snow in Courchevel and Meribel from Feb 6-18.

A fifth large crystal globe for the overall World Cup winner also looks inevitable, with Shiffrin now on 1,517 points to Swiss rival Lara Gut-Behrami's 906.

-Reuters