SOLDEU, Andorra. Michaela Shiffrin won her 21st career giant slalom at the World Cup final on Sunday as the American ended the season with another record.
The win put Shiffrin ahead of Vreni Schneider, a week after the Swiss skier had won 20 World Cup giant slalom victories. The American has won seven of the last eight events and won the giant slalom world title last month.
The overall record for men and women is held by the great Swede Ingemar Stenmark, who won 46 giant slaloms in the 1970s and 80s.
“I don’t know, you guys tell me,” Shiffrin said with a laugh when asked about possible next records during an interview conducted by her boyfriend and World Cup downhill champion Alexander Aamodt Kilde. “Just keep moving straight ahead”
When Kilde asked her about plans to improve next season, Shiffrin joked, “We can discuss it later in private.”
This season, Shiffrin took the overall, slalom and giant slalom titles and extended her career record for most wins to 88.
On Sunday, Shiffrin also set a personal best of 2,206 World Cup points in 31 starts this season, two points more than her 26 race run in 2018-19.
Only one skier has scored more points in one season: Slovenian great Tina Maze finished the 2012-13 season with 2414 points.
Sunday’s result also marked Shiffrin’s record 138th career World Cup podium, ahead of her former teammate Lindsey Vonn with 137.
But for Shiffrin, her personal favorite record came nine years ago.
“Honestly, I think I may have been the youngest Olympic champion in slalom. It was really the only record I really ever wanted, how I really aspired,” said Shiffrin, who was 18 when she won her first Olympic gold at the 2014 Sochi Games. “It happened quite a while ago and I’m still motivated today; I still had that nervous feeling up there. I was so nervous at the beginning…because you want to succeed. And it doesn’t matter about records. … You just want to succeed.”
As the sun shone on the Avet circuit, Shiffrin held onto her lead in the first run, 0.06 seconds ahead of Thea Louise Stjernesund. The Norwegian earned her first career podium.
Canadian skier Valerie Grenier was third, 0.20 behind Shiffrin.
Three of the top seven riders did not complete their first runs as Saturday’s slalom winner Petra Vlhova, Federica Brignone and Olympic champion Sarah Hector missed the net.
Two-time former world champion Tessa Worley finished 11th in what she said would be the last of her career. The French giant slalom specialist has won 16 races and three season titles, most recently last year.
Source: www.espn.com
