American star Shiffrin Extends All-time best with Historic 105th World Cup Slalom Win.
The dominance of Mikaela Shiffrin goes beyond simple winning each slalom of the Winter Games season. She’s dominating each race and securing victories by significant gaps as well.
A Night of History-Making Performance
The American skiing standout secured a record-extending 105th World Cup victory after several of her top challengers were eliminated during the opening run of a evening event on Tuesday.
Shiffrin added to her first-run lead and ended up 1.55 seconds ahead of Swiss skier Camille Rast and 1.71 seconds ahead of competitor from Germany Emma Aicher.
"Shiffrin has now won the opening four slaloms of the season – and five consecutive including the last event of the previous campaign," observed analysts.
Commanding Margins of Victory
All of her margins of victory this season have exceeded a full second – with three of them over 1.5 seconds: a 1.66-second lead in Levi, Finland; 1.23 in Gurgl, Austria; and 1.57 seconds in Copper Mountain, Colorado before her latest performance in the French Alps.
Challengers Face Struggles
Competitors striving to match Shiffrin faced challenges.
- Lena Duerr, the German skier who was in third place after the first run, skied off the track early in her second trip down.
- Lara Colturi, the Italian-born skier who represents Albania, missed a gate toward the end of her initial run – halting a streak of three straight slalom podiums.
- Wendy Holdener managed a seventh-place finish despite a incident at the end of her first run where she encountered a rut, was flipped into the air, and landed on her back.
Defending World Cup slalom champion Zrinka Ljutic and Olympic silver medalist Katharina Liensberger, the following two competitors, were disqualified midway down the course.
This marks the third straight slalom that Ljutic has not completed.
Race Results
Katharina Truppe of Austria finished fourth and American skier Paula Moltzan moved up from ninth to fifth with the quickest second run of the race.
An Iconic Career of Achievements
This win represented Shiffrin's 68th World Cup slalom victory. Her Olympic accolades include gold in slalom at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the giant slalom gold four years later at the Pyeongchang Games. She did not reach the podium at the 2022 Beijing Games.
The upcoming winter Olympics' women’s Alpine skiing events will be held in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy – a venue where Shiffrin secured four medals in her four events at the 2021 world championships.
