Mikaela Shiffrin extends record with 105th World Cup win in slalom | Skiing

Mikaela Shiffrin is not content with winning all the slaloms of the Olympic season. She dominates every race and also wins by wide margins.

The American ski star claimed a record 105th World Cup victory after several of her top challengers retired in the first round of a night race on Tuesday.

Shiffrin increased her lead in the first run and finished 1.55 seconds ahead of Swiss skier Camille Rast and 1.71 seconds ahead of German Emma Aicher.

Shiffrin has now won the first four slaloms of the season – and five in a row, including the final race of last season.

All of his winning margins this season have been over a second – and three of them have been over 1.5 seconds: 1.66 in Levi, Finland; 1.23 in Gurgl, Austria; and 1.57 at Copper Mountain, Colorado before his final performance in the French Alps.

Rivals rushing to catch up with Shiffrin encountered difficulties.

Lena Duerr, the German who was in third place after the first run, veered off course at the start of her second run.

Lara Colturi, the Italian-born skier racing for Albania, rode a gate near the end of her first run, ending a streak of three consecutive slalom podiums.

Wendy Holdener managed to finish seventh despite an incident at the end of her first run.

Holdener hit a hole in the finish area, was thrown through the air and landed on her back. After grimacing in pain for a few moments, she got up and walked away. It was not immediately known if she was injured, but she competed in the second round.

Reigning slalom World Cup champion Zrinka Ljutic and Olympic silver medalist Katharina Liensberger, the next two starters, were eliminated halfway through the race.

This is the third consecutive slalom that Ljutic has failed to finish.

Austrian Katharina Truppe finished fourth and American skier Paula Moltzan moved from ninth to fifth with the second-fastest run.

Shiffrin earned her 68th World Cup victory in slalom. She also won gold in slalom at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, then gold in giant slalom four years later at the Pyeongchang Games. Shiffrin did not win a medal at the 2022 Beijing Games.

Women’s alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics will take place in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy – where Shiffrin won four medals in her four events at the 2021 world championships and where Lindsey Vonn holds the record with 12 World Cup victories.

Vonn, who won a downhill last week at age 41, no longer competes in slalom. She will be back in action this weekend for a downhill and super-G in nearby Val d’Isère.