Mikaela Shiffrin now stands on top of the Women’s Alpine Ski World Cup alongside American Lindsey Vonn after winning the second giant slalom race in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia on Sunday (January 8).
The 27-year-old hit her 82nd place in her career, she won the World Cup in convincing style, taking first place in both runs, leaving her rivals behind, winning in a combined time of 1:52.53.
It also leaves her just four wins behind Ingemar Stenmark’s overall record of 86.
Shiffrin, who was the first skier to take part in the morning’s run, was almost a quarter of a second behind the nearest challenger Federica Brignone after that first run, with Saturday’s winner Valérie Grenier third. This meant they would be the last three to take the second exit in reverse.
Grenier was unable to repeat her heroic feat from the previous day after several major slips, finishing off the podium. However, Brignone made a solid second run to set the marker for Shiffrin.
With a 0.24 second lead, Shiffrin began to aggressively extend her lead as she descended Podkoren 3. The American skied with seemingly no weight on her back, finding time from all corners, triumphing with an impressive 0.77 seconds.
Speaking to FIS TV immediately after her second run, the American said: “I was very nervous about this run. I have a rash on my face, I was so nervous! I don’t know why, maybe it’s because of 82 I wanted to ski well… I can’t believe it.
“It was a fight but the conditions were amazing and I got a report from the coaches that just said everything is fully attackable so you have to go for it. I was in that position (before) and let it go, and today I wanted to go for it.”
Shiffrin still leads the overall World Cup standings with a lead of 419 points over Petra Vlhova, while reducing the gap to Marta Bassino in the race of the giant slalom discipline to just 25 points.
The women now head to Flachau, Austria for the slalom race on Tuesday, when Shiffrin could break the women’s record.
