Mikaela Shiffrin wins 80th World Cup race in Semmering slalom to move closer to breaking Lindsey Vonn record

ByLewis Mason

Updated 29/12/2022 at 21:44 GMT

American Mikaela Shiffrin is just three World Cup race wins away from breaking the record for all-time female victories. She picked up her 80th success, and 50th slalom win, after overtaking her team-mate Paula Moltzan with the final run of the event in Semmering. Shiffrin's fellow American Lindsey Vonn currently holds the record for most female World Cup wins with 82.

Mikaela Shiffrin moved a step closer to Lindsey Vonn's all-time record after her 80th World Cup win, and her 50th in slalom, as she took top spot again in Semmering.

Shiffrin is now just two World Cup wins away from matching the female record set by fellow American Vonn after claiming a clean sweep of triumphs in Austria - winning three races in three days.

Shiffrin finished in a time of 1:43.26 minutes to take the win by 0.29 seconds overall ahead of Paula Moltzan and Lena Duerr.

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It is the first American one-two in a women’s World Cup slalom since 1971.

In the first run of the day, Shiffrin was sixth out of the start gate and continued her sensational form in Semmering by going 0.72 seconds quicker than the time set by Sweden’s Anna Swenn Larsson.

She posted the fastest split times all the way down the course, underlining her status as the skier to beat in slalom.

Her great rival Petra Vlhova held the early lead but ended up in fifth, 1.01 seconds adrift of Shiffrin and behind third-placed Moltzan, who made it an American 1-3, and Germany’s Lena Duerr.

World champion Katharina Liensberger failed to qualify for the second run after going down. She managed to get up but was too slow to be in the all-important top 30.

Britain’s Charlie Guest was first out of the gate on the second run but a sideways skid cost her time, and despite naturally taking the lead, it was quickly snatched by America’s Katie Hensien.

The lead continued to change hands at regular intervals as the faster competitors from the first run made their way to the slope.

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Austria’s Franziska Gritsch attacked the course with risk and got her reward by securing a half second advantage which led the way until Martina Dubovska recovered from several errors to take the leader’s seat at the halfway stage.

Dubovska held onto the lead until Sweden’s Hanna Aronsson Elfman stepped up and, despite almost losing control of her skis early in the run, replaced the Czech skier at the top.

'So special' - Shiffrin savours Moltzan one-two after 80th World Cup win

Slovenia’s Ana Bucik snatched a 0.16 second lead with eight competitors remaining, but was made to surrender top spot by 18-year-old junior slalom world champion Zrinka Ljutic.

As the top six skiers hit the course, Wendy Holdener, Petra Vlhova and Lena Duerr took it in turns to reach the top of the leaderboard - hoping the final three would make errors in order to keep them on the podium.

However, Moltzan put in a sublime run to ensure a World Cup slalom podium place for the first time in her career, taking a 0.05 second lead.

Penultimate racer Anna Swenn Larsson suffered an error-strewn run to miss out on the top three, meaning Duerr was certain of a medal, which transpired to be bronze.

Moltzan secures historic American one-two in Semmering behind Shiffrin

Step forward, Mikaela Shiffrin.

Despite not putting on the most stylish of displays, Shiffrin crossed the line 0.29 seconds ahead of Moltzan’s time to reach incredible milestones as she continues to chase the all-time World Cup record.

Speaking after the race, Shiffrin said it was “so special” to share the podium with her team-mate Moltzan, who she said had a “ripping run”.

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