By Mike Rowbottom |
Mikaela Shiffrin earned her first giant slalom victory of the season in the Austrian resort of Lienz, taking her total of International Ski Federation (FIS) Alpine Skiing World Cup wins to 63 and moving her to outright second on the women’s all-time list.
The three-time reigning overall World Cup champion and double Olympic gold medallist missed the World Cup meeting in Val d’Isère last weekend after finishing 17th in Courchevel.
But the 24-year-old American was emphatically back to business today as she won both runs, finishing almost a second and a half clear of Italy’s Marta Bassino and home skier Katharina Liensberger.
“It’s pretty hard to believe this right now,” Shiffrin said.
“I know that sounds strange, but it is. …
“It sounds a little bit stupid, actually, to say the last week was a tough time because I still have already an amazing season.
“One bad race, it’s stupid, really.
“It’s just ski racing.
“But I care.”
The American star’s combined total was 2min 07.31sec, with Bassino on 2:08.67 and the Austrian on 2:09.13.
Shiffrin has now passed the number of race wins achieved by Austria’s Annemarie Moser-Pröll and her next target is the total of 82 victories established by her compatriot Lindsey Vonn.
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz.