St. Vigil in Marebbe – Mikaela Shiffrin had a big lead in the first run of the giant slalom on Wednesday and was able to quickly extend it Record total of 83 World Cup victories at the same track where she had set the women’s mark a day earlier.
Shiffrin had a lead of 0.51 seconds Olympic champion Sara Hector and 0.65 ahead of former giant slalom World Cup winner Marta Bassino.
Only two other skiers, Ragnhild Mowinckel and Federica Brignone, were within a second of Shiffrin’s time at the Plan de Corones ski area in St. Vigil.
Shiffrin also led the first heat on Tuesday as she surpassed her former American teammate’s previous record of 82 wins Lindsey Vonn.
Shiffrin had a long night after her record day.
“But it was a really nice evening,” she said. “It was so nice to see messages from people and so much support and excitement about the race. I definitely looked at all this very carefully and then tried to go to bed and get a good night’s sleep. And I was up at midnight. I woke up at 3am. Then I woke up at 5am. I was hungry all night. I was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m a mess.’”
Still, Shiffrin managed to pull herself together to show off her best skiing again.
“It’s another beautiful hill today. The surface is amazing and it was a nice course setup, lots of active skiing, dynamic skiing,” she said. “That’s why I felt very good in the first run and I’m looking forward to another run on the hill.”
The top of the steep Erta course was foggy, but visibility improved as skiers made their way down.
Shiffrin is also fast approaching Ingemar Stenmark’s overall mark – between men and women – of 86 wins.
If Shiffrin wins Wednesday’s race and two slaloms in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic this weekend, she could match Stenmark on Sunday.
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