Mikaela Shiffrin surpasses Ingemar Stenmark wins record to become most decorated Alpine skier of all-time

ByNigel Chiu

Updated 11/03/2023 at 14:16 GMT

Mikaela Shiffrin won her 87th Alpine skiing World Cup race to beat Ingemar Stenmark’s record for the most victories and statistically become the greatest skier of all-time. Friday’s giant slalom and Saturday’s slalom will be remembered forever after Shiffrin made history in Are, where she picked up her maiden World Cup win in 2012 and broke Stenmark’s record in the Swede’s own country.

Mikaela Shiffrin surpassed Ingemar Stenmark’s record for most Alpine skiing World Cup wins with her 13th victory of the season.

The win in Are, which is where Shiffrin won her first World Cup race, makes the American, statistically, the greatest skier of all-time.

Shiffrin beat Switzerland's Wendy Holdener by 0.92 seconds, with Sweden’s Anna Swenn Larsson in third on home soil.

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“It’s pretty hard to comprehend,” said Shiffrin. “My brother and sister-in-law are here and I didn’t know they were coming. That makes it so special.

“The best feeling is to ski on the second run because you have a lead and you have to be smart. I just wanted to be fast too and ski the second run like its own race. I did it exactly how I wanted and that’s amazing.

“To the whole team and all the people who have helped me this whole season and whole career, all these people reaching out now after all these years, it’s pretty incredible. I just want to say thank you for that.”

The 27-year-old carried a lead of 0.69 seconds over Swenn Larsson into the second run after a stunning performance in the first leg.

In the second run, the lead chopped and changed early on, before home skier Cornelia Oehlund went fastest with a combined time of 1:44.27.

Leona Popovic had a short spell at the top of the leaderboard, then Melanie Meillard went quickest by 0.25 seconds, which secured her a first top 10 of the season.

Petra Vlhova was expected to have a second-run charge, after a big error on the first leg saw her grind to a halt, but she made another huge mistake and then straddled as her disappointing season continued.

Lena Duerr took the lead with seven skiers remaining with the new benchmark time now at 1:43.80.

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Ana Bucik had a disappointing second run, but Laurence St-Germain went 0.44 seconds faster than Duerr.

Then, Paula Moltzan continued her remarkable recovery since breaking her left hand at the World Championships to take the lead by 0.05 seconds with four skiers to go.

There was heartbreak for junior world champion Hanna Aronsson Elfman when she was on course to take a huge lead, before straddling halfway through the second run.

Holdener stormed her way into the lead by 0.62 seconds, which proved to be enough to beat Swenn Larsson, who was 0.03 seconds slower.

Then came Shiffrin, who showed no signs of nerves to win by 0.92 seconds as she sat down after the finish line and was congratulated by her rivals on a record-breaking day.

‘It’s pretty hard to comprehend’ – Shiffrin reacts to becoming most decorated alpine skier ever

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‘An unbelievable day’ – Shiffrin on breaking Stenmark’s World Cup wins record

11/03/2023 at 14:51

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‘It’s pretty hard to comprehend’ – Shiffrin reacts to becoming most decorated alpine skier ever

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11/03/2023 at 16:30

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‘The greatest World Cup skier we have ever seen!’ – Watch Shiffrin’s record-breaking run in Are

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11/03/2023 at 13:46