Mikaela Shiffrin says ‘nothing less than the best’ works after Zagreb World Cup win, closes on Lindsey Vonn

ByNigel Chiu

Published 04/01/2023 at 17:30 GMT

Mikaela Shiffrin was “incredibly happy” to make it five World Cup wins on the bounce after victory in Zagreb. According to the American, both of her runs featured her best skiing as she extended her lead in the overall World Cup standings and moved to within one win of Lindsey Vonn’s record of 82 victories on the women’s tour. Stream the 2022-23 Alpine Skiing season on Eurosport and discovery+.

Mikaela Shiffrin feels that “nothing less” than her best skiing is enough to win on the World Cup circuit after she claimed her fifth consecutive victory.

A dominant performance from Shiffrin in Zagreb saw her stand on the top step of the podium for the 81st time, which puts her just one victory behind Lindsey Vonn for the most World Cup wins on the women’s tour.

The 27-year-old is also just five wins behind the all-time World Cup record for men and women, which is held by Ingemar Stenmark.

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Shiffrin has the opportunity to win again on Thursday in the second of the slaloms in Zagreb, which you can see live on Eurosport and discovery+.

“I’m incredibly happy,” said Shiffrin afterwards.

“I had so much fun. It was my best skiing in both runs.

“Nothing less than the best is going to work and I was taking all the risks I needed.

"I made it on the finish and it’s just an amazing feeling when it’s good enough.”

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Shiffrin went last in the second run in Zagreb after going 0.23 seconds quicker than Sweden’s Anna Swenn Larsson in the opening leg.

However, it was her great rival Petra Vlhova who held the benchmark time when Shiffrin took to the start gate, at an advantage of 0.55 seconds over the Slovakian.

Shiffrin puts together flawless second run to win Zagreb slalom and close on Vonn record

The win never looked in doubt though as a storming performance from Shiffrin saw her win by 0.76 seconds to win her fifth Snow Queen trophy, which is the award for winning in Zagreb.

“The crown is a little bit scary,” joked Shiffrin about the trophy. “It’s always breaking but it’s always a pleasure to put this crown on.”

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Stream the 2022-23 Alpine Skiing season live on Eurosport and discovery+.

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