NewsSportsTop StoryUS

US Mikaela Shiffrin gets 86th World Cup victory

Mikaela Shiffrin tied the career record for Alpine skiing World Cup wins with her 86th victory in a giant slalom in Åre, Sweden, on Friday. Shiffrin drew level with Ingemar Stenmark, a Swedish giant slalom and slalom star of the 1970s and ’80s, at the site of her first World Cup win at age 17 in December 2012. She prevailed by 64 hundredths of a second over Italian Federica Brignone. The Associated Press has the story:

US Mikaela Shiffrin gets 86th World Cup victory

Newslooks- ARE, Sweden (AP)

American skier Mikaela Shiffrin won her record-tying 86th World Cup race Friday with victory in a giant slalom.

Shiffrin’s win matched the overall record set by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark 34 years ago.

The 27-year-old American protected her half-second lead from the first run and finished 0.64 seconds ahead of Federica Brignone.

United States’ Mikaela Shiffrin speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women’s World Cup giant slalom race, in Are, Sweden, Friday, March 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)

Shiffrin crossed the finish line and put her hands to her helmet, then to her face and shook her head slowly while taking in the enormity of her achievement.

“This is just a spectacular day. Oh my goodness,” she said in a course-side interview.

Stenmark told The Associated Press last month that Shiffrin is “much better than I was.”

Italy’s Federica Brignone speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women’s World Cup giant slalom race, in Are, Sweden, Friday, March 10, 2023. (Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency via AP)

It was Shiffrin’s fourth straight wire-to-wire win in World Cup giant slaloms since January. In that time, she also took gold in the event at last month’s world championships in Meribel, France.

Shiffrin started cautiously in her second run under the floodlights in the fast-darkening afternoon, letting half of her 1.04-second first-run advantage over Brignone slip before picking up time on the bottom half.

United States’ Mikaela Shiffrin speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women’s World Cup giant slalom race, in Are, Sweden, Friday, March 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)

Brignone made a theatrical bow toward Shiffrin in the post-race ceremony in the finish area.

Olympic champion Sara Hector of Sweden was third, 0.92 seconds behind Shiffrin.

Shiffrin also clinched the season-long World Cup giant slalom title to secure her 15th career crystal globe trophy. She already won her fifth overall World Cup title and the slalom title this season.

Canada’s Valerie Grenier speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women’s World Cup giant slalom race, in Are, Sweden, Friday, March 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)

Making more World Cup history on Friday, Shiffrin’s 20th career victory in the giant slalom — six of them this season — matched the all-time women’s mark held by Vreni Schneider.

Schneider got her wins between 1984 and 1992. The Swiss racer, like Shiffrin, also has Olympic and world championship gold medals in both giant slalom and slalom.

Italy’s Federica Brignone speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women’s World Cup giant slalom race, in Are, Sweden, Friday, March 10, 2023. (Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency via AP)

Shiffrin won her first World Cup race in Are, a slalom in December 2012, and then earned two gold medals at the 2019 worlds at the Swedish resort. It was also where she was due to race again in March 2020 after the death of her father the previous month, but the races were called off because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’ve had a quite a few different experiences here,” Shiffrin said after her first run on Friday. “I have felt everything you can feel here so it’s special to be back.”

For more Sports news

Previous Article
Turkey sets Presidential, PM elections May 14
Next Article
Georgia Parliament drops foreign agents law

How useful was this article?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 0 / 5. Vote count: 0

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this article.

Latest News

Menu