Mikaela Shiffrin earned a record-extending 95th World Cup victory and 150th career podium by taking a slalom in Jasna, Slovakia, on Sunday.
Shiffrin won by 14 hundredths of a second over Zrinka Ljutic, a 19-year-old from Croatia, combining times from two runs. Shiffrin’s lead of 52 hundredths from the first run was reduced to two hundredths with 14 seconds left on the course in her second run.
Shiffrin prevailed one day after her slalom rival, Olympic gold medalist Petra Vlhova of Slovakia, suffered a season-ending knee injury a giant slalom crash in Jasna.
“I’ve been thinking about her a lot the last 24 hours,“ Shiffrin told Austrian broadcaster ORF after the first run Sunday. “Honestly, this is just an enormous blow for the sport. It sucks. For me personally, over these years, I’ve grown to love the battles with her, and I think today she would be just so strong, so I really miss watching her ski today and having that battle.
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“My career has been a lot more special because of her.“
Shiffrin’s 150th World Cup podium moved her five shy of the Alpine skiing record held by Swede Ingemar Stenmark, whose wins record Shiffrin broke last March when she reached 87.
Shiffrin also made an 82nd World Cup slalom podium, breaking her tie with Stenmark for the most in any single Alpine skiing discipline.
Shiffrin, 28, did it in 110 slalom starts, meaning she has finished in the top three in 74.5 percent of her races in the discipline. In her last 100 World Cup slalom starts, she has 81 podiums.
Shiffrin is tied for fourth on the all-time World Cup wins list across all Winter Olympic sports with retired Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen (95 wins, including one in cross-country skiing). They trail only German speed skater Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann (98 wins) and Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen (114 wins).
The Alpine skiing World Cup moves next weekend to Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, for speed races airing on skiandsnowboard.live for subscribers. Shiffirn is planning to take part.
That’s 95 World Cup wins for this ‘95 baby 👑
— U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team (@usskiteam) January 21, 2024
Congratulations, @MikaelaShiffrin ✨ Moving right along… 😏#stifelusskiteam pic.twitter.com/cGDO9uJA35
