Winter Sports
15:13, 18-Mar-2019
American skier Mikaela Shiffrin wins giant slalom race to seal World Cup title
["europe"]
Share
Copied
Another race won, another crystal trophy earned, another World Cup record written by American skier Mikaela Shiffrin in her historically great season.
Shiffrin won a giant slalom Sunday to seal the season-long standings title and, shedding a few tears while sitting in the finish area, lifted a record-tying fourth World Cup crystal globe in the same season.
She has become the first skier to clinch World Cup victories in overall, slalom, giant slalom, and super-G in the same season.
"There were many moments in the last eight years where I was thinking maybe I would never get this GS globe," Shiffrin said, explaining her emotions. "I wanted to be proud of my skiing and really deserve that."
A fourth discipline title in one season matched the women's World Cup record jointly held by Lindsey Vonn (2010, 2012) and Tina Maze (2013).
Shiffrin's 17th World Cup race win this season also extended her own record for men and women. At age 24, her 60 career wins trails only 26 behind Ingemar Stenmark's all-time total.
The American star needed only a top-15 finish on a sun-soaked day in Andorra to ensure the closest challenger Petra Vlhova could not overhaul her points total.
Instead, Olympic giant slalom champion Shiffrin retained her first-run lead in style to finish 0.30 seconds ahead of 17-year-old Alice Robinson. Vlhova was third, 0.41 back.
Standing next to the undisputed current star of women's alpine skiing, a bright future was seen Sunday for Robinson. The New Zealand prospect earned her World Cup finals entry by winning the giant slalom at the junior world championships last month.
"Alice skied amazing today, she was attacking both runs," Shiffrin said of the runner-up who got her first points-scoring top-30 finish only one week earlier.
Source(s): AP