American star Shiffrin Expands Record with Historic 105th World Cup Giant Slalom Win.
Mikaela Shiffrin isn't just winning every slalom of the Olympic season. She is commanding each race and finishing with considerable leads as well.
An Evening Marked by Record-Extending Performance
The Alpine star from the United States earned a 105th record-broadening World Cup victory after several of her primary challengers failed to finish during the opening run of a night race on Tuesday.
Shiffrin added to her first-run lead and ended up over one and a half seconds ahead of Swiss skier Camille Rast and 1.71 seconds ahead of German racer 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.
Overwhelming Margins of Success
All of her margins of victory this season have topped a full second – with three of them over 1.5 seconds: 1.66 in Levi, Finland; 1.23 seconds in Gurgl, Austria; and 1.57 in Copper Mountain, Colorado before her most recent performance in the French Alps.
Rivals Encounter Struggles
Opponents attempting to reach Shiffrin encountered trouble.
- Lena Duerr, the German skier who was in third place after the first run, went off course early in her second run.
- Lara Colturi, the Italian-born skier who represents Albania, straddled a gate toward the end of her initial run – ending a streak of three consecutive slalom podiums.
- Wendy Holdener managed a seventh-place finish even with a mishap at the end of her first run where she hit a hole, 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 consecutive slalom that Ljutic has failed to finish.
Race Results
Katharina Truppe of Austria finished fourth and American skier Paula Moltzan climbed from ninth to fifth with the quickest second run of the race.
A Legacy of Achievements
This win represented Shiffrin's sixty-eighth World Cup slalom victory. Her Games accolades include the slalom gold medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the giant slalom gold 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 won four medals in her four events at the 2021 world championships.
