Shiffrin equaled Ingemar Stenmark's record 86 wins in the SP

FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup, giant slalom. Pictured from left are Federica Brignone, Mikaela Shiffrin and Sara Hector in Sweden on March 10, 2023.

Aare (Sweden) – American skier Mikaela Shiffrin won the giant slalom in Aare, tying Sweden's Ingemar Stenmark's record with her 86th World Cup win. After the fastest ride in the first round, sixth time in the second was enough for her to maintain a lead of 64 hundredths ahead of Italy's Federica Brignone. She can aim for the 87th win, which would make her the leader of the absolute historical tables, in Saturday's slalom. This is also one of her strong disciplines.

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Photo gallery: SP in downhill skiing 2022/23

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Shiffrin won her fifth consecutive giant slalom. To her four wins in the World Cup, she added a triumph at the World Championship a month ago. Today's victory secured her a small crystal globe for discipline in addition to entering the historical statistics. Before the final race in Andorra, she has an unattainable lead of 214 points over Slovak Petra Vlhová. After a certain triumph in the overall order of the SP and in the slalom, he already has his third trophy this season.

The foundation for the record victory was laid by the American star in the first round. In it, she gave her biggest competitors more than a second. “It was one of the races in my life where I thought, 'This is really good,'” Shiffrin told Swedish television station TV6.

She came closest with starting numbers fifteen and sixteen The Canadian Valeire Grenierová, who lost 58 hundredths, and the Austrian Franziska Gritschová with a deficit of 93 hundredths. But neither of them managed the second round, Gritschová dropped out and Grenierová fell to sixth place after a series of mistakes.

Before the second race, Shiffrinová had a relatively open path to the record and, unlike the second slalom in Špindlerův Mlýn, she did not let the win take away her this time. After crossing the finish line, she grabbed her head, covered her face and slowly shook her head. “It's just an extraordinary day. Oh my God,” she said in an interview in the finish area.

Swedish television then asked her to say something to Stenmark, who had promised to watch the race at home on a screen before the race. The American woman expressed great respect for the sixty-six-year-old Švé, whose record from 1989 seemed to be unsurpassable for a long time. “No matter what I've done, I don't even compare to what you've done. Maybe I'll get the 87th win, maybe not. But for me, the biggest dream is to be talked about in the same sentence as you, ” Shiffrin said.

In addition to equaling Stenmark's 34-year-old record, she managed to make another history. She won the 20th giant slalom, equaling the women's record held by the Swiss Vreni Schneider, who was successful in this discipline from 1984 to 1992.

Shiffrin, who will celebrate her 28th birthday on Monday, already had a turn at the Swedish Aare before today's race memories. Eleven years ago, she won her first World Cup race there, and seven years later she won two medals at the World Championships. In March 2020, she was going to return to the slopes here after the tragic death of her father, but then the races were canceled due to the coronavirus.

Today she achieved a record victory, which she had been waiting for since January 28, when she won the first slalom in Špindlerův Mlýn. Then she had four SP races without a win, mostly in speed disciplines. “I had it in my head. It was quite difficult to concentrate the last few weeks. When I was little, I never thought that I could ever be in this situation. I spent the whole day trying not to concentrate on it,” she confided Shiffrin, who hugged her mother and coach Eileen at the finish line.

Sara Hector, last year's Olympic champion from Beijing, finished third in today's race behind Shiffrin and Brignone. Czech skier Adriana Jelínková finished in 43rd place in the first round and did not advance to the second.

SP in downhill skiing in Aare (Sweden):

Women – giant slalom:< /strong> 1. Shiffrin (USA) 1:54.64 (55.16+59.48), 2. Brignone (It.) -0.64 (56.20+59.08), 3. Hector (Swede .) -0.92 (56.29+59.27), 4. Vlhová (SR) -1.42 (56.76+59.30), 5. Worleyová (Fr.) -1.78 (56, 68+59.74), 6. Grenierová (Can.) -1.80 (55.74+1:00.70), …in the 1st round 43. Jelínková (CZ) 59.15.