Mikaela Shiffrin breaks women’s Alpine skiing World Cup wins record
Mikaela Shiffrin reset the women’s Alpine skiing World Cup wins record with her 83rd career victory, breaking her tie with Lindsey Vonn by taking a giant slalom in Kronplatz, Italy, on Tuesday.
Shiffrin prevailed by 45 hundredths of a second over Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami combining times from two runs. She reacted with typical non-exuberance, hunching over her skis and breathing hard as if exhausted. Moments later, she turned to the crowd and pumped her right arm in the air five times.
“I was feeling less pressure,” about the record, Shiffrin said. “This number 83, it was almost completely out of my mind today. … I guess it’s very fitting that it would come in the moment when I actually am thinking about it the least and don’t expect it at all.”
Shiffrin began the season eight victories behind Vonn. Shiffrin had 74 wins over the previous 10 years, including six, three and five the previous three years. If recent form held, the pursuit of Vonn’s record was supposed to be season-long, perhaps longer.
