A Day After Winning the Giant Slalom, Shiffrin Wins Again In Dominant Fashion.
It was yet another landmark day for Mikaela Shiffrin, who ended 2023 on a winning note with her 93rd World Cup victory in Lienz, Austria. She topped the podium by finishing a mammoth 2.34 seconds ahead of Germany’s Lena Duerr, while Swiss Michelle Gisin came in third. A winning margin of 2.34 seconds is the seventh-largest ever recorded in a women’s slalom.
It was a fitting end to Shiffrin’s annus mirabilis, which has seen her win 13 races on the top-level circuit.
“Today was a very special day for me,” Shiffrin said. “I felt perfect on the skis, so I’m super happy,” said Shiffrin in quotes published by fis-ski.com.
Shiffrin led by over a second after the first run. Despite German Lena Duerr’s charge from fifth place into the provisional lead in the second run, Shiffrin attacked the course to claim a resounding win.
With thirteen wins, this makes it the 28-year-old’s joint second-most successful calendar year of racing, matching her 15 victories in 2018.
“The last couple of years I was really building up to this point in the season, and somehow it just clicked, I guess,” Shiffrin said. “The first run and second run were totally different courses, with different timing and flow. I felt like I had a really good plan, and my coaches pointed out the key sections of the course, so I was good to go.”
Shiffrin now has 13 World Cup wins in 2023 and equals the haul she managed in 2019 as the second most in a calendar year, after winning 15 in 2018.
This was also her 56th slalom victory and the 80th time she has been on the podium in the discipline, one short of another Ingemar Stenmark record after breaking his all-time World Cup victories record of 86 in March.
Sitting at 93 wins, there are now hopes that Shiffrin can reach the magical total of 100 World Cup victories, but is not focused on chasing down numbers.
“I certainly have wishes but I think in skiing, it’s always just: be relentless with the work and do the job and try to enjoy it actually,” she added. “In life, I just really wish for nice moments with my family and closest friends. That’s pretty simple, I guess.”
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