2 months ago
Mikaela Shiffrin secured a record-tying sixth women’s wide World Cup skiing title by holding disconnected a situation from Germany’s Emma Aicher successful nan last title of nan season.
Shiffrin needed only to decorativeness successful nan apical 15 of Wednesday’s elephantine slalom successful Lillehammer, and nan American secured that earlier Aicher had moreover began her 2nd run. Shiffrin vanished 11th and Aicher – who needed to triumph nan title and dream that Shiffrin vanished 16th aliases worse to clinch her first title – vanished 12th.
Shiffrin was only 17th aft nan first tally but came down successful first position successful nan 2nd and past clinched it erstwhile nan adjacent 2 starters placed down her.
After she was told she had won nan title, Shiffrin dropped to her knees, put her manus to her look and appeared to beryllium successful tears arsenic she asked her team, “Are you sure?”
The 31-year-old matched Austrian downhill awesome Annemarie Moser-Pröll, who won her six titles successful nan 1970s. Moser-Pröll won 5 consecutive titles from 1971-75 past a sixth successful 1979. Shiffrin won 3 consecutive from 2017-19, past back-to-back titles successful 2022 and 2023. Shiffrin vanished this play connected 1,410 points, 87 points up of Aicher.
Marcel Hirscher leads nan men’s database pinch 8 wide titles.
It’s been different stellar play for Shiffrin, who claimed nan 3rd Olympic golden of her career by dominating nan slalom astatine past month’s Milan Cortina Games.
Shiffrin besides won 9 of nan 10 World Cup slaloms this play and has a grounds 110 victories crossed each disciplines – by acold nan astir successful nan World Cup by immoderate man aliases woman. Ingemar Stenmark is adjacent champion pinch 86 wins successful nan 1970s and 1980s.
The 22-year-old Aicher has ne'er won a World Cup elephantine slalom and has a career-best decorativeness of fourth, achieved this period astatine Are, Sweden. The only existent skier who competes successful each event, Aicher was aiming for her first wide title aft taking location 2 metallic medals – successful downhill and squad mixed – from Milan Cortina.
Aicher, who has a Swedish mother and a German begetter and grew up mostly successful Sweden, won 3 World Cup races this play – 1 downhill and 2 super-Gs.
Valerie Grenier of Canada won Wednesday’s race, to declare her 3rd profession World Cup victory. Mina Fuerst Holtmann of Norway vanished 2nd connected location snow, 0.43 behind, and subject champion Julia Scheib was third, 0.57 behind.
