American skier Mikaela Shiffrin ties Lindsey Vonn's World Cup wins record for women

Mikaela Shiffrin ties fellow American Lindsey Vonn's Alpine Ski World Cup top standings after she won the second giant slalom competition at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, on January 8, Sunday.

The 27-year-old won in a combined time of 1:52.53, easily securing her 82nd career World Cup victory. She finished first in both of her races, leaving her competitors in her wake.

Mikaela Shiffrin's record breaking win

With Mikaela Shiffrin winning on the Podkoren 3 slope for her 82nd World Cup victory overall, the American skier equals Lindsey Vonn's female record and moves into a tie for second place overall in victories. It also puts her just four victories behind Ingemar Stenmark's 86-win total.

Shiffrin's morning run was the first skier on the course, putting roughly a quarter of a second between herself and nearest rival Federica Brignone. Saturday winner Valérie Grenier finished third. They will be the final three to make their second descent in reverse order, according to that.

Shiffrin started aggressively trying to increase her lead as she moved down Podkoren 3 with a 0.24-second advantage. The American won by an amazing 0.77 seconds as she skied without it feeling like she had anything on her back.

After a number of significant slips, Grenier was unable to match her exploits from the day before, placing them outside the podium. Brignone put Shiffrin on the map with a strong second run.

Mikaela Shiffrin reduced the distance between herself and Marta Bassino in the giant slalom discipline race to 25 points while maintaining her 419-point lead over Petra Vlhová in the overall World Cup standings.

The ladies will compete in a slalom on Tuesday in Flachau, Austria, where Shiffrin will have the opportunity to break the women's record.

Kranjska Gora giant slalom - Results

Mikaela Shiffrin - USA,1:52.53
Federica Brignone - ITA, +0.77
Lara Gut-Behrami - SUI, +0.97
Petra Vlhová - SVK, +1.07
Marta Bassino - ITA, +1.16
Valérie Grenier - CAN, +1.74
Mina Fuerst Holtmann - NOR, +1.83
Sara Hector - SWE, +1.94

Who is Mikaela Shiffrin

Mikaela Pauline Shiffrin OLY, an American Alpine skier and two-time Olympic gold medallist, was born on March 13, 1995. In the sport, she has won the slalom world championship four times, the overall World Cup title four times, and the World Cup discipline title six times.

Shiffrin achieved impressive success in important events from an early age. She defeated skiers from 40 different countries in the slalom and giant slalom events at the Topolino Games in Italy in March 2010 when she was 14 years old.

Shiffrin's Olympic results

Mikaela Shiffrin was the overwhelming favorite to win the slalom at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, led after the first run and almost lost it in the second, but managed to hold on and win at Rosa Khutor.

Shiffrin at the Alpine Skiing - Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics

She participated in the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics, where she took home gold in the giant slalom and silver in the combined. Despite being the favorite to take home the gold in the slalom, she finished fourth.

Shiffrin, at the age of 18 years and 345 days, is the youngest slalom champion in the history of Olympic alpine skiing.

About the author

Kunal is a Golf journalist at Sportskeeda. He hails from Indore, the cleanest city in India. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication and is currently pursuing an MBA in Media Management.

He is a keen golf enthusiast and loves to watch Rory McIlroy's drive and Phil Mickelson's short game.
Apart from golf, he loves to play and watch cricket. Being a wicket-keeper himself, he is a huge fan of MS Dhoni and Adam Gilchrist.

Know More

Edited by Diptanil