Kranjska Gora: Mikaela Shiffrin equalled Lindsey Vonn’s women’s record of 82 World Cup victories when she won the giant slalom at Kranjska Gora on Sunday.
The 27-year-old American produced two dominant runs to beat the Italian Federica Brignone by 0.77 seconds. The Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami was third, 0.97sec behind Shiffrin.
“I was so nervous on this run, I even had a rash on my face, maybe a bit of that was because of 82,” a tearful Shiffrin told broadcaster Eurosport.
“I wanted to ski well and I did it. I can’t believe it.
“It was a fight but it was pretty amazing conditions. I got a report from the coaches that everything is fully attackable and you have to go for it. I have been in this position and given it away. Today I wanted to fight for it.”
Shiffrin picked up her first World Cup win when she was only 17.
She is now just four wins shy of matching the overall record of 86 wins held by the Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark, who dominated the men’s slalom and giant slalom disciplines for a decade from 1975 before retiring in 1989.
Shiffrin might have equalled the record 24 hours earlier but after five successive World Cup wins, she could only finish sixth in the weekend’s opening giant slalom as Valerie Grenier gave Canada its first victory since 1974.
Shiffrin dominated the first run on Sunday, opening up a 0.24sec lead over Brignone with Grenier continuing on her fine form.
Shiffrin was even more in charge in the second run as she powered down the piste, stretching that lead by another half-second to match the record set by her compatriot Vonn, who bowed out of competition after the 2019 Are world championships at the age of 34.
Shiffrin had a disastrous Olympics in China last year but is on course for a fifth overall World Cup title and the world championships at the French Alps resorts of Courchevel and Meribel approaching next month.
