Ruthless Shiffrin storms to record 102nd win as Olympic slalom season begins | Mikaela Shiffrin
American Mikaela Shiffrin set a milestone for the upcoming Olympic season by obliterating her rivals to easily win the first slalom race of the Alpine Skiing World Cup on Saturday.
The 30-year-old was in a class of her own, going fastest in both her races to win by 1.66 seconds, her ninth career victory in Levi and a record 102nd World Cup victory.
Albanian Lara Colturi finished second on her 19th birthday while fellow German Emma Aicher finished third for the first podium of her slalom World Cup career.
Shiffrin’s victory seemed assured from the moment she pulled off what she described as a “near perfect” first run that gave her an advantage of more than a second.
She was impeccable again on her second trip through the gates to add a ninth reindeer to her herd – the traditional prize awarded to winners of the slalom event in the Arctic Circle station.
The new addition, a male reindeer, will join Rudolph, Sven, Mr. Gru, Ingemar, Sunny, Lorax, Grogu and Rori on a farm near Levi, in the Finnish region of Lapland and part of the wider Sápmi cultural region. Shiffrin visited her adopted reindeer last year.
“I trusted the training and the great work done over the summer,” said Shiffrin, who will aim for a third Olympic gold medal at the Milan-Cortina Games in February.
“It was really nice to race today. This season it’s important to start with a really good mentality. I’m just super happy. It’s starting to feel more like home.”
With Shiffrin out for much of last season due to an abdominal injury suffered in a serious fall at Killington, Croatia’s Zrinka Ljutic won the slalom World Cup title ahead of Switzerland’s Camille Rast.
But any suggestion that the baton was passing to the younger generation was mercilessly dismissed by Shiffrin on Saturday, as she showed she is still in her prime.
Italian-born Albanian Colturi looks to be one of those capable of challenging Shiffrin after two impressive runs, although she will have to wait a little longer to claim her first World Cup victory.
The versatile Aicher was also impressive in completing the podium while American Paula Moltzan gained 15 places on her second run to finish tied for fourth with German Lena Duerr.
It was an impressive start to the season for Moltzan, who finished second in the season-opening giant slalom in Sölden. Ljutic had to settle for sixth place while world slalom champion Rast finished in a disappointing 15th place.
