SPINDLERUV MLYN – American skier Mikaela Shiffrin set the fastest time in the opening run of a women’s World Cup slalom on Saturday, positioning herself for her 85th career win.
If Shiffrin wins the race, she would be within one of the World Cup records of 86 victories set by Swedish superstar Ingemar Stenmark in the 1980s.
Shiffrin had shared the women’s record of 82 wins with former teammate Lindsey Vonn before triumphing in back-to-back giant slaloms in Italy this week.
The American was 0.29 seconds faster than Lena Dürr of Germany on Saturday, while slalom Olympic champion Petra Vlhová of Slovakia was 0.46 seconds behind in third place.
“In the end good skiing and I’m happy with that,” said Shiffrin.
The rest of the field was more than a second behind. Lower ranked skiers were still coming down the course.
Shiffrin, who competed where she made her World Cup debut nearly 12 years ago as a 15-year-old, got off to a quick start, leading her opponents by at least a quarter of a second in the first split.
She also gained time over most racers in a tricky passage midway through her run, where the layout of the course allowed for multiple paths to pass through the gates.
“You could ski either way,” Shiffrin said. “At the end of the track I was able to pick up a lot of speed. In the end, I felt really good about my run.”
The American has won four of the seven slaloms this season and is chasing her 11th win of the season.
Only twice in her career has she won more than 11 races in a single season: 12 in 2017-18 and a record 17 in 2018-19.
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