KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia – Valerie Grenier from Canada won her first World Cup race when she pipped Marta Bassino from Italy in the Giant Slalom at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.
All eyes were on American Mikaela Shiffrin, who was chasing her sixth consecutive World Cup race win to equal Lindsey Vonn’s women’s record of 82 victories, but she ended up in sixth place.
Grenier, clocked one minute 55.01 seconds and edged out Bassino by 0.37 seconds. Petra Vlhova of Slovakia claimed third, 0.40 seconds behind Grenier.
“I have no words, I still can’t believe it,” the 26-year-old Grenier said.
“It’s a dream come true, I’ve been wanting it for so long, and I’m just going to cry because I’m so happy,” Grenier added according to Reuters.
Shiffrin is still the overall World Cup leader with 1015 points, 369 points ahead of Vlhova.
Shiffrin is on the verge of passing Lindsey Vonn’s women’s World Cup record of 82 wins. Vonn achieved this feat at 33 years old. Shiffrin is just 27. Will she be able to do it?
It’s never been just about wins for Shiffrin. Not when she didn’t win any of her five individual races at last year’s Beijing Olympics. And not during her current five-race winning streak.
“I am so happy and proud and thankful for that, because it feels so good,” she said after victory No. 81 in a slalom in Zagreb, Croatia. “And it´s a reminder at this point, after 81 victories, that I can really, really enjoy skiing when I´m skiing like that.”
Even when her next victory will tie her with Vonn for the women´s World Cup record at 82 wins apiece. “She´s a great process-oriented person,” US ski team women’s head coach Paul Kristofic said.
“There´s a lot of media attention around records right now but that´s honestly not really the motivating factor every day when she goes to race.
“It´s about trying to execute as well as she possibly can, ski as well as she possibly can and we know that when she´s able to do that the results are there,” Kristofic added according to AP.
With giant slalom scheduled in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Shiffrin has a chance to both match and surpass Vonn’s mark this weekend. Then she can take aim at the overall record – between men and women – of 86 wins set by Ingemark Stenmark.
At age 27, Shiffrin might be in the best form of her career, which is saying a lot for a racer with four overall World Cup titles, two Olympic gold medals (from 2014 and 2018) and six golds at world championships.
Meanwhile, Swiss Olympic champion Marco Odermatt took his fourth giant slalom win of the season in Adelboden.
Odermatt dominated in the Swiss Alps as he won the race with almost a second to spare ahead of Henrik Kristoffersen from Norway in front of more than 35,000 home fans.
Odermatt, the reigning World Cup champion and current leader, finished 0.73 seconds ahead of Kristoffersen, with another Swiss, Loic Meillard, grabbing third place, 1.66 seconds behind Odermatt.
“It is just amazing, crazy, I could really enjoy the race today,” Odermatt said.
“I knew at the start I had to push because of Henrik. As always, I had to attack the race. I was really good at the top but then two, three, four times, I was really on the limit with the inside skis, and on the edge.
“But I thought `I can´t go out now, I have to fight´. If you don’t risk you can’t win.”
The 25-year-old Odermatt now has 1046 points in the World Cup standings, 400 points ahead of Aleksander Aamodt Kilde from Norway.
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