LEVI, Finland — American ski star Mikaela Shiffrin dominated the first women´s Alpine Ski World Cup slalom of the season for her record-extending 98th career win.
Shiffrin built on a big first-run lead with an aggressive yet controlled second run down the Finland course to beat 2021 slalom world champion Katharina Liensberger of Austria by 0.79 seconds.
Lena Duerr of Germany dropped from second to third, 0.83 behind Shiffrin, and was the last skier to finish less than a second off the lead.
“Amazing way to start the slalom season, I’m super happy,” Shiffrin said according to AP.
The two-time Olympic champion also led the season-opening giant slalom in Austria three weeks ago, but squandered that advantage in the second run to finish fifth.
Shiffrin initially extended her lead to a massive 1.25 seconds early in her final run before losing a few tenths.
“I was getting twisted sometimes, but then keep fighting. Not the perfect tempo, but enough really good turns that it works really well. In the end, a really solid run in conditions not so easy,” she said.
Shiffrin won both slaloms at the end of last season after her return from a knee injury following a downhill crash in January, clinching her eighth World Cup season title in the discipline.
She has now won 61 slaloms and 98 races overall – both are World Cup records across genders.
Shiffrin has triumphed a record eight times in the traditional season-opening slalom in Finnish Lapland, where the winner is given a reindeer as a prize.
After the first run, Shiffrin said she “felt good.”
“I felt strong and solid and good energy. Little bit nervous, like first race, first slalom of the season, so I´m happy with how I managed the mentality and pushed with my skiing,” she said.
Croatian prodigy Zrinka Ljutic who was third after the opening run, lost three spots.
Shiffrin´s teammate Paula Moltzan went from fifth to eighth position.
In the opening run, Moltzan was 0.05 seconds faster than Shiffrin on the flat opening section of the course but lost time going into the steep part and ultimately trailed by 0.90. In the second run, Moltzan posted the 17th-fastest time and ended 1.51 behind Shiffrin.
Olympic champion Petra Vlhova, Shiffrin´s biggest rival in slalom, sat out the race as the Slovakian needed more to time to recover from knee surgery last season.
American standout Lindsey Vonn, who this week announced her return to the US ski team more than five years after her retirement, was expected to race again at speed events later this season.
Vonn, a three-times Olympic medallist and four-times overall World Cup champion, had retired in 2019 after a bruising 18-year career where she suffered several injuries.
She had retired as the most decorated athlete in women’s skiing when she finished her career with 82 World Cup wins — a record that was broken in January 2023 by compatriot Shiffrin.
Vonn underwent partial knee replacement surgery in April and has been training in recent months to test her knee before taking the decision to return to competitive skiing.
“Getting back to skiing without pain has been an incredible journey. I am looking forward to being back with the US Ski Team and to continue to share my knowledge of the sport with these incredible women,” Vonn said in a statement according to Reuters.
Vonn, a speed specialist who is considered one of the greatest ski racers of all time and who helped raise the profile of the sport in the United States, did not indicate when or which races she would enter.
Since first suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury in 2007, Vonn has been sidelined with frequent knee problems and broken bones.
She missed the 2014 Sochi Olympics due to a serious knee injury which she has been managing ever since.
Vonn, who recorded her first World Cup victory in 2004, has 20 World Cup titles which include four overall Crystal Globes.
She has also won eight World Championship medals and has 137 World Cup podium finishes.
At the 2010 Games in Vancouver, Vonn became the first American woman to win an Olympic downhill gold. She also won a super-G Olympic bronze in 2010 and a downhill bronze at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
“Lindsey has made an indelible mark on Alpine skiing and our organisation throughout her career. We’re delighted to welcome her back,” said Sophie Goldschmidt, the president and CEO of US Ski Snowboard.
“Her dedication and passion towards Alpine skiing is inspiring and we’re excited to have her back on snow and see where she can go from here.”
As recognisable on the red carpet as she is on the ski hill, the personable Vonn, who once dated professional golfer Tiger Woods, had a crossover appeal that made her the sport’s most popular athlete and earned her many lucrative endorsement deals.
When she called time on her career after dealing with a lengthy list of injuries — including broken bones, torn knee ligaments and concussions — Vonn said the decision was because she felt her body was “broken beyond repair.”
