The wins keep coming for Mikaela Shiffrin.
A day after setting the record for most World Cup victories by a woman, the 27-year-old American won again Wednesday. Her victory in the second giant slalom in Kronplatz, Italy, was the 84th of her career, leaving her just two from matching the all-gender mark set by Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark.
“I was pushing so hard and I just hoped I ended up on the right side of all the gates. Now I’m a bit dead. Mentally I’m so tired,” said Shiffrin, who was clearly spent after she crossed the finish line, briefly shaking her hands before dropping to the snow.
“But when you ski like that, it keeps your energy going. It’s an incredible feeling.”
Shiffrin could tie Stenmark’s record of 86 World Cup victories by the end of the weekend, with slalom races on both Saturday and Sunday in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic. Slalom is Shiffrin’s specialty, with 51 of her World Cup victories coming in the discipline.
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The World Cup circuit takes a break after that for the world championships, which are Feb. 6-19 in France. It resumes Feb. 23-26 with two downhills and a super-G in Crans Montana, Switzerland.
But Shiffrin’s best chance to surpass Stenmark are likely to come in his home country, with giant slalom and slalom races in Are on March 10 and 11.
“I think that Shiffrin will win more than 100,” Stenmark told Olympics.com earlier this season, “and it doesn’t make me sad at all.”
Shiffrin had bettered fellow American Lindsey Vonn’s record for women with a victory, her 83rd, in Tuesday’s giant slalom in Kronplatz. Just as in that race, she set the pace with a blazing start Wednesday and took a 0.51-second lead into the second run.
She wasn’t quite as fast on the second run – she actually had the third-fastest time – but those chasing her fell off and she was able to widen her margin. She finished 0.82 seconds ahead of Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel. Sara Hector of Sweden was third.
While Shiffrin lay in the snow, Mowinckel approached her yelling, “84! 84!”
“It’s pretty special,” said fellow American Paula Moltzan, who was seventh. “She’s obviously continuously breaking records, she’s so amazing.”
