American ski star Mikaela Shiffrin set a breaking record as the first to claim 15 World Cup wins in a single season with a slalom victory on Saturday in Spindleruv Mlyn in the Czech Republic.
The 23-year-old finished in one minute 38.98 seconds to secure her 15th triumph of the campaign. Though, she was initially frustrated in her attempt to break the record during the giant slalom Friday, finishing third behind Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova, but her disappointment was short lived.
“Yesterday in the second run I was pushing really hard,” Shiffrin said after claiming the win. “It was enough to get on the podium and I was really happy about that, but felt disappointment from the first.
Mikaela is arguably the most dominant athlete in sports at present. She has already clinched the overall Crystal Globe and has wrapped up a third consecutive World Cup slalom title, her sixth in total.
She also clinched her fourth consecutive slalom world title in Sweden last month alongside gold in super-G and bronze in giant slalom Friday,
As though not enough, She looks almost certain to claim her first giant slalom season crown at the World Cup finals in Andorra next week.
Never minding the poor conditions delaying the start of the slalom, the superstar was in imperious form and topped the standings by 0.37 seconds after her first run.
She was then able to put together an equally blistering second run finishing 0.85 seconds ahead of the field to record her 58th World Cup win in total.Shiffrin overtakes Swiss legend Vreni Schneider’s 14 race wins in 1988-89. In the race, Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener and Petra Vlhova of Slovakia finished second and third respectively .
“So today I wanted to not protect something, ski with risks, ski to fight, and see what was possible. And it was really fun to ski both runs” she said.
In the race, Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener and Petra Vlhova of Slovakia finished second and third respectively .
