Mikaela Shiffrin takes record 8th slalom win of season in Sweden

Mikaela Shiffrin claimed a record-equaling eighth World Cup slalom win of the season Sunday in Sweden, but the chase for the overall crystal globe is not settled going into the final weekend of racing.

On the second of back-to-back tech competitions in Åre, Shiffrin’s main rival, Emma Aicher, finished 0.94 seconds back for second as Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener rounded out the podium.

“It’s tight. You can only get a certain number of points, and Emma is skiing so strong as well,” Shiffrin said after her 109th-career World Cup win. “I feel like I put my life on the line, and it’s just 20 more points (than Aicher today).”

With a career-best slalom finish, Aicher — who competes in all four disciplines — is just 140 points behind Shiffrin in the overall chase.

“It feels pretty good. Skiing in the second run was solid, but there was a little bit of a mistake. But I’m happy with my overall skiing right now,” the 22-year-old said. “I’m pretty proud of where I am right now. It doesn’t matter where it’s going to end, if you look at last season, I’d come pretty far, so I’m happy and proud of that.”

Support Local Journalism

Donate

Shiffrin was 0.51 seconds up on Aicher after the first run and posed a flawless, aggressive and composed second trip down the Störtloppsbacken slope, where she’s won seven times in her career.

“Åre is one of the places I feel a little bit at home. The last two days were spectacular race days. I wanted to push in these conditions,” Shiffrin said, adding that she drew inspiration from her teammate, Paula Moltzan, who finished fifth. “I saw Paula’s run and I thought she did a good job, pushing and having some errors, but fighting and moving, and that’s the vibe from this course.”

With her 10th top-5 result of the winter, Moltzan will head to Norway next week ranked fifth in the slalom and GS and sixth in the overall standings.

“Today was sunny, warm, and beautiful,” Moltzan stated via U.S. Ski Team alpine communications manager Sierra Ryder. “Happy to find some good sections of skiing in salty spring snow — with plenty of mistakes, too. But (I’m) happy to get another top five to complete a solid weekend in Åre! The level of slalom skiing right now is so high, it’s amazing to be a competitor in it.

Shiffrin’s eight slalom wins tied the single-season record she set during her 2018-2019 campaign — in which she tied Janica Kostelic’s established mark. The Edwards skier can break it if she wins the final slalom of the year at the World Cup Finals next weekend in Lillehammer. In addition to her near-perfect winning percentage, Shiffrin added a second Olympic gold medal in the discipline last month in Cortina. The 31-year-old was asked what has been behind the nearly flawless season.

“A really good question,” Shiffrin told reporters in the mixed zone on Sunday. “Maybe towards the end of the season, it has been simplicity. But I really want to fight through the final races and have a good energy and good spirit and we do that together.”

Shiffrin now has 1,286 total points in the overall standings. Aicher stands at 1,146, but could be a threat in the speed events next weekend as well. The German is currently second in the downhill and third in the super-G standings. In fact, she’s reached the podium in every discipline at least once this year, except GS, where her best finish was the fourth-place mark from Saturday. When asked whether she was going to go “all in” and race every event in Trondheim, Aicher remained mysterious.

“I’m going to concentrate on my stuff and just enjoy the skiing and see what happens,” she told FIS.

Shiffrin said she’s ready to battle for a record-tying sixth overall crystal globe.

“For sure — it’s the kind of thing that motivates me when we are off the slope to keep going with the mood and attitude,” the Edwards skier said. “But when I’m in the start gate, I just try to have the best skiing I can do.”

The World Cup Finals begin on March 21 with the men’s and women’s downhill. The slalom is slated for March 24.