KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia – The emotions came pouring out of Mikaela Shiffrin when she matched Lindsey Vonn´s women’s World Cup skiing record with her 82nd victory.
United States’ Shiffrin hit the milestone by winning the giant slalom in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, giving her six wins in her past seven races. Her winning combined time of the race’s two runs was 1:52.53, besting Italy’s Federica Brignone, who totaled 1:53.30.
“I was so nervous this run,” Shiffrin said after the win according to Reuters. “I don’t know why maybe a little bit was because of 82. I really wanted to ski it well and I did, can’t believe it.”
Shiffrin reached 82 wins in 233 races. It took Vonn 395 to amass that total.
Shiffrin, 27, now stands four wins away from tying Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark, who has the most World Cup wins by any alpine skier with 86.
Her next scheduled race is the slalom in Flachau, Austria. With the season set to end in mid-March, it is expected she will compete in at least 10 more races this winter.
In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, Stenmark said he has no doubt Shiffrin will surpass Vonn’s record — and then his.
“Shiffrin is such a great skier with a fantastic technique and really deserves to break my record. I will be happy for her when she does,” Stenmark said, adding, “She will be the first to reach 100 World Cup victories.”
Shiffrin has reached the pinnacle of her sport again nearly a year after her confidence was rocked at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Competing in six events, she fell in three and left China without a medal.
First there was a scream of delight following a serious case of nerves that had been building inside her throughout the day. Then came tears during the playing of the American anthem when her thoughts turned to her father, Jeff, who died three years ago.
“My dad used to be there and taking pictures. Most races these days I´ll think about him and I´m able to kind of refocus,” Shiffrin said according to AP.
“But when I´m singing the national anthem (it’s different). It was just before I ever won my first World Cup, he said, `You better memorize the words of the national anthem, because if you ever win, you better sing it.´ And so I always think about him when I´m up there.”
There were also an emotional embrace between Shiffrin and her mother, Eileen, who has coached the skier since childhood and been with her daughter every step of the way since her first World Cup win slightly more than a decade ago.
“I was so nervous this run. I have a rash on my face I was so nervous,” Shiffrin said. “I don´t know why, maybe a little bit was because of 82. I just really wanted to ski well, and I did.”
Added Gut-Behrami, the reigning world champion in giant slalom and the Olympic super-G champion, “It´s good to have these athletes that are making history. Without that, we wouldn´t be so addicted to sport.”
With few American fans at the race near the Italian border, supporters of Slovakian rival Petra Vlhova cheered Shiffrin loudly. A few kids were waving American flags and family members of Paula Moltzan, another American skier, were on hand wearing USA hockey jerseys.
Shiffrin also moved ahead of Moser-Proll and Tessa Worley of France with her 17th giant slalom win for second on the women´s career list behind only Vreni Schneider, the Swiss skier who won 20.
