American star Shiffrin Extends All-time best with 105th World Cup Slalom Victory.
Mikaela Shiffrin isn't just winning every slalom of the Olympic season. Her control over each race and winning by large margins as well.
An Evening Marked by Record-Extending Performance
The Alpine star from the United States earned a record-extending 105th World Cup victory after several of her primary challengers failed to finish during the first run of a evening event on Tuesday.
Shiffrin built upon her first-run lead and ended up over one and a half seconds ahead of Swiss skier Camille Rast and 1.71 ahead of competitor from Germany Emma Aicher.
"She has currently secured the opening four slaloms of the season – and five straight including the last event of last season," noted analysts.
Commanding Leads of Success
All of her margins of victory this season have exceeded a full second – with a trio over 1.5 seconds: 1.66 in Levi, Finland; 1.23 in Gurgl, Austria; and 1.57 seconds in Copper Mountain, Colorado before her most recent performance in the French Alps.
Challengers Face Struggles
Competitors striving to match Shiffrin faced challenges.
- Lena Duerr, the German skier who was third after the first run, skied off the track early in her second trip down.
- Lara Colturi, the born in Italy skier who races for Albania, missed a gate toward the end of her opening run – halting a streak of three straight slalom podiums.
- Wendy Holdener achieved a seventh-place finish even with a mishap 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 next two starters, went out midway down the course.
This marks the third straight slalom that Ljutic has not completed.
Final Standings
Katharina Truppe of Austria finished fourth and American skier Paula Moltzan moved up from ninth to fifth with the fastest second run of the race.
An Iconic Career of Achievements
This win represented Shiffrin's sixty-eighth World Cup slalom victory. Her Games accolades include gold in slalom at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and gold in giant slalom four years later at the Pyeongchang Games. She didn’t medal 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.
