Mikaela Shiffrin extended her record with a 103rd Alpine skiing World Cup victory in the Austrian resort of Gurgl on Sunday, dominating the slalom event with an aggressive display. The 30-year-old American, a leading gold medal contender for next month's Winter Olympics, made it two slalom wins from two this season after also winning the final slalom of the previous campaign.
Shiffrin led after the first run by 0.31 seconds and extended her advantage to 1.23 seconds in the second run to finish ahead of Albania's Lara Colturi, who placed second. Switzerland's Camille Rast, the reigning world champion, took third place. The podium mirrored the result from the season-opening slalom in Levi, Finland, and was identical to last year's top three at Gurgl, where Shiffrin claimed her 99th win.
Colturi, 19, the Italian-born daughter of 2002 Olympic super-G gold medallist Daniela Ceccarelli, was surprised by her first back-to-back World Cup podium. “The snow was really soft and when I saw it, I thought it's probably not my day,” she said. Shiffrin, whose total tally includes a record 66 World Cup slalom victories, commented: “I had to push so hard but it was really nice with the sun on the second run. Not easy but I knew the others were pushing so there's no choice.”
Croatia's Zrinka Ljutic, winner of last season's slalom crystal globe, straddled a gate on the second run and did not finish, while Austria's Katharina Liensberger, Olympic silver medallist in Beijing 2022, failed to complete the first run. The next women's technical races are in Copper Mountain, Colorado, at the end of January, and Shiffrin is looking forward to training there. “I have to get some giant slalom training again and I'm really excited to go to Copper. I stay in my own bed for the first time during the season,” she said.
