LOS ANGELES — Mikaela Shiffrin extended her slalom winning streak to four consecutive races, building on victories in the opening two events of this season and the final race of last season. The triumph marked Shiffrin’s record-breaking 104th World Cup win and her 67th in slalom, further cementing her dominance in the discipline.
Navigating moderate snowfall, Shiffrin capitalised on her first-run lead to finish a commanding 1.57 seconds ahead of Germany’s Lena Dürr, who climbed from ninth after the opening leg.
“Go Mikaela, we love you,” said one sign held up by fans in the finish area at Copper Mountain – which is a half-hour drive from Shiffrin´s hometown of Edwards, in Colorado.
“I could hear you guys from the start. Thank you,” Shiffrin told the crowd after the second run. “I felt perfect this run. This was amazing,” Shiffrin added according to AP.
Teenager Lara Colturi of Albania moved up from fourth after the opening run to finish third, 1.85 behind, despite a big mistake early in her second run. Wendy Holdener finished fourth and Anna Swenn Larsson was fifth.
It was Shiffrin´s first victory in Colorado in more than a decade – since she won two slaloms at Aspen in November 2015. Overall, 12 of her 104 World Cup wins have come in the US.
Shiffrin also won the slalom at the 2015 world championships at Vail-Beaver Creek, Colorado, in February of that year.
It’s the fourth time in Shiffrin’s career that she has won the opening three slaloms of a season. She won the opening five slaloms in 2018-19, the opening four in 2016-17 and the opening three in 2019-20.
The other American finishers were Paula Moltzan in eighth and Nina O’Brien in 26th.
Shiffrin is expected to be one of the stars of the Feb. 6-22 Milan Cortina Olympics, where women´s Alpine skiing will be held in Cortina d´Ampezzo, Italy.
At the 2021 worlds in Cortina, Shiffrin entered four races and won four medals.
It´s been an emotional week for Shiffrin, who was reduced to tears while watching fiancée Aleksander Aamodt Kilde return to racing after nearly two years out with serious injuries in a super-G at Copper Mountain.
Shiffrin will race again next weekend in two giant slaloms in Tremblant, Quebec, before returning to Europe for the rest of the season.
Stefan Brennsteiner, meanwhile, secured his maiden World Cup victory, dominating the men’s giant slalom in Colorado as Swiss star Marco Odermatt crashed out in the first run.
The Austrian capitalised on Olympic champion Odermatt’s early exit, crossing the finish line with a commanding 0.95-second lead.
