News
Prediction
Fixtures
Mikaela Shiffrin wins her 95th World Cup, although Petra Vlhova is absent
Mikaela Shiffrin secured her 95th World Cup victory and achieved her 150th career podium by winning a slalom event in Jasna, Slovakia, on Sunday.
In the competition, Shiffrin narrowly triumphed by 14 hundredths of a second over Zrinka Ljutic, a 19-year-old from Croatia, after combining times from two runs. Although Shiffrin had a 52-hundredths lead from the first run, her advantage was reduced to two hundredths with 14 seconds remaining on the course during her second run.
This victory came a day after her slalom competitor, Olympic gold medalist Petra Vlhova of Slovakia, suffered a season-ending knee injury in a giant slalom crash in Jasna.
Reflecting on the win, Shiffrin expressed her thoughts about Vlhova, stating, “I’ve been thinking about her a lot the last 24 hours. 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.”
“My career has been significantly enriched because of her.”
With her 150th World Cup podium, Mikaela Shiffrin is now five podiums away from tying the Alpine skiing record held by Swede Ingemar Stenmark. Shiffrin had previously surpassed Stenmark’s wins record last March when she reached 87 victories.
In addition to this milestone, Shiffrin also achieved her 82nd World Cup slalom podium, breaking her tie with Stenmark for the most podium finishes in any single Alpine skiing discipline.
At 28 years old, Shiffrin accomplished this feat in 110 slalom starts, meaning she has finished in the top three in 74.5 percent of her races in this discipline. In her last 100 World Cup slalom starts, she has reached the podium in an impressive 81 races.
On the all-time World Cup wins list across all Winter Olympic sports, Shiffrin currently holds the fourth position. She trails retired legends Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen (96 wins, including one in cross-country skiing), German speed skater Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann (98 wins), and Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen (114 wins).
The Alpine skiing World Cup is set to move to Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, for speed races next weekend, available for streaming on skiandsnowboard.live for subscribers. Shiffrin plans to participate in these upcoming races.
