Mikaela Shiffrin prolonged her document profession haul to 97 World Cup victories when the American skier gained the final slalom of the season on the Alpine World Cup finals Saturday.
Shiffrin was second quickest after the primary run in her signature self-discipline, 0.11 seconds behind Sweden’s Anna Swenn Larsson, however stormed to her sixtieth slalom victory with a spectacular second run on a course set by Shiffrin’s coach Karin Harjo.
She gained by 0.54 seconds over Mina Fuerst Holtmann of Norway, whereas Swenn Larsson dropped to 3rd, 0.63 off the tempo.
Along with her mom and coach Eileen watching on, Shiffrin, 29, was handed the crystal globe quickly after, and she or he held it aloft whereas pumping her fist earlier than kissing the trophy and acknowledging the group.
Shiffrin, who was out of motion for six weeks after injuring a knee in January, had already clinched her eighth slalom globe final weekend in Are, Sweden. She has stated the slalom might be her final race of the season, skipping Sunday’s big slalom and subsequent week’s velocity occasions.
“It has been a wild season, so I am actually blissful to be right here and see the ultimate race of the season go nicely. I am wanting ahead to the subsequent season already,” Shiffrin stated. “It is slightly bit laborious to course of all of it. It makes me really feel so invigorated and so alive. I am making an attempt to soak all of it in.
“I by no means actually focus an excessive amount of on the numbers, however now I really feel OK with them. It is not strain. It is simply an honor.”
The 2-time Olympic champion sprained the MCL and tibiofibular ligament in her knee in a downhill crash Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, in January, when she was nonetheless recovering from a bone bruise she had sustained initially of the season.
Shiffrin has gained the season-ending slalom on the World Cup finals a document six instances in her profession, however not since 2019.
The following girls’s race on the finals is the enormous slalom on Sunday, when Swiss chief Lara Intestine-Behrami begins with a 95-point lead over her Italian challenger Federica Brignone.
Reuters and The Related Press contributed to this report.