Soldeu, Andorra –
Mikaela Shiffrin closed out the season with another record for America’s standout as she won her 21st career giant slalom in Sunday’s World Cup final.
With the win, Shiffrin overtook Brennie Schneider after a week to match the Swiss skier’s mark of 20 World Cup GS wins. The American has won seven of his last eight events and won the GS world title last month.
The overall men’s and women’s records are held by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark, who won the giant slalom 46 times in the 1970s and 80s.
“I don’t know. Tell me,” Shiffrin laughed when asked about her next record potential in a trackside interview conducted by boyfriend and World Cup downhill champion Alexander Armot Kilde. said while
“Keep it going,” added Shiffrin, who has won all-around, slalom and GS titles this season and extended her record to 88 wins.
After Kilde asked her about her plans to improve for next season, Shiffrin joked, “We can discuss that in private later.”
Shiffrin also set a career-high 2,206 World Cup points in 31 appearances this season. This puts him two points more than his 2018–19 record of 26 races.
Only one skier has scored more points in one season. Slovenian great Tina his maze is 2,414 as he finished the 2012-13 season.
Sunday’s result also marked Shiffrin’s 138th career World Cup podium, surpassing former teammate Lindsay Vonn’s 137th.
But for Shiffrin, her personal favorite record came nine years ago.
Shiffrin, who was 18 when she won her first Olympic gold medal at Sochi 2014, said:
“It was a long time ago, but I still feel motivated. I was still nervous. I was really nervous at first…because I want to do well. And I don’t care about the record.” I just want to do well.
As the sun hit the Aveto course, Shiffrin held onto the first-run lead, trailing Thea Louise Sternesund by 0.06 seconds. The Norwegian scored his first podium of his career.
Canadian skier Valerie Grenier finished third, 0.20 ahead of Shiffrin.
Three of the top seven racers failed to complete their first run as Saturday’s slalom winner Petra Vlhova, Federica Brignone and Olympic champion Sarah Hector all missed the gate.
Two-time former world champion Tessa Worley finished 11th in what she said would be the last race of her career. The French GS her specialist has won 16 races and her three season titles, most recently last year’s title.
