Mikaela Shiffrin seals World Cup win 84 with stunning performance to edge closer to all-time record
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Updated 25/01/2023 at 13:36 GMT
Mikaela Shiffrin made it two giant slalom wins in a row with her 84th World Cup victory, 24 hours on from her record-breaking performance in Kronplatz. Shiffrin won by a big margin of 0.82 seconds from Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel, with Italy’s Marta Bassino in third. Shiffrin is now two wins off Ingemar Stenmark's all-time record, having already surpassed Lindsey Vonn.
‘Monster margin’ - Shiffrin leads after Run 1 in Kronplatz
Mikaela Shiffrin made it back-to-back World Cup wins on Kronplatz, a day on from her record-breaking victory that made her the most successful female skier ever.
Shiffrin revealed to Eurosport that she struggled to sleep overnight but showed no signs of fatigue as she was over half a second quicker than the rest of the field in the first run and asserted her dominance in run two.
Two slalom races in Spindleruv Mlyn will take place this weekend, where Shiffrin could equal Ingemar Stenmark’s record for the most World Cup victories by any skier, male or female.
Then there will be a break prior to the Alpine Skiing World Championships, which take place from February 6-19 on Eurosport and discovery+, before the World Cup resumes where Shiffrin is likely to break Stenmark’s record in the final part of the season.
“I was pushing so hard and I just hoped I ended up on the right side of all the gates,” said Shiffrin.
“Now I’m a bit dead! Just mentally so tired. When you ski like that it keeps your energy going, just an incredible feeling.”
It was Marta Bassino who was first out of the gate in run one and she put down a great time that couldn’t be beaten by her rivals until Shiffrin went 0.65 seconds faster.
Sara Hector followed and slotted into second, 0.51 seconds behind the American, while Tuesday’s runner-up, Lara Gut-Behrami had some huge mistakes so was 1.80 seconds off the pace.
Neja Dvornik set the early pace with an excellent second run to set the benchmark time of a 2:05.70, which moved her up to 12th from 27th.
Thirteen skiers later, Nina O’Brien finally topped Dvornik’s time by going 0.22 faster, before Gut-Behrami made up for her disappointing morning run with a much cleaner second performance to take the lead by 0.82 seconds.
Petra Vlhova, who was seventh after the opening run, pipped Gut-Behrami by 0.01 seconds after nearly going down three gates from home.
Federica Brignone had a scrappy performance and finished down in eighth, with four skiers remaining.
Ragnhild Mowinckel showed some of her best giant slalom form for a long time by going 0.55 seconds quicker than Vlhova to put the pressure on the final three.
There was heartbreak for Bassino when she couldn’t get enough pressure on her right ski and crashed through a gate towards the end of her run, then Hector’s ragged run left her in provisional second with just Shiffrin to come.
The 27-year-old had a big advantage of 0.72 seconds and extended her margin to win to 0.82 seconds over Mowinckel to do the double in Kronplatz.
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