Mikaela Shiffrin secured a record-tying sixth women's overall World Cup skiing title on Wednesday, holding off Germany's Emma Aicher in the final race of the season in Lillehammer. The American needed only a top-15 finish in the giant slalom to claim the crown, and she achieved that before Aicher began her second run. Shiffrin finished 11th, while Aicher, who needed victory and a 16th or worse finish for Shiffrin, came 12th.
“It's quite emotional,” Shiffrin said. “This thing sums up a whole season of work and fighting with the whole team.” The 31-year-old matched Austrian great Annemarie Moser-Pröll, who won six titles in the 1970s. Shiffrin now has three straight titles from 2017-19 and back-to-back victories in 2022 and 2023, finishing the season with 1,410 points, 87 ahead of Aicher.
After being told she had won, Shiffrin dropped to her knees, appeared tearful, and asked her team, “Are you sure?” Her fiancé, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, was present. Shiffrin added, “I'm really, really grateful to be in this position now. It's really a big, big emotion but I'm also grateful for the fight.”
This season also saw Shiffrin claim her third Olympic gold in the slalom at the Milano Cortina Games. She won nine of ten World Cup slaloms and has a record 110 career wins across all disciplines, the most of any skier. Marcel Hirscher leads the men's list with eight overall titles.
Aicher, 22, was aiming for her first overall title after Olympic silvers in downhill and team combined. She won three World Cup races this season. Canada's Valerie Grenier won Wednesday's race, with Norway's Mina Fürst Holtmann second and discipline champion Julia Scheib third.
