Mikaela Shiffrin makes history with fourth straight slalom gold

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American Mikaela Shiffrin became the first Alpine skier to win the same event at four successive world championships with a thrilling victory in the slalom on Saturday.

Shiffrin, 23, was only third after the first run but produced an electrifying second leg to claim victory by 0.58 seconds from Swede Anna Swenn Larsson.

She ended the championships with two golds, having won the Super-G, and a bronze from the giant slalom.

Her victory was all the more impressive as she said she had been battling a lung infection and "run out of oxygen" toward the end of her surge for victory.

"It was tough to breathe without coughing, I was just fighting to stay in the course, it was tough today," she said.

"My skiing, especially in the second run was really good, I was pushing really hard."

Mikaela Shiffrin competes during the FIS World Ski Championships women's slalom in Sweden on February 16, 2019. /VCG Photo

Shiffrin joins Belgian-born German Christl Cranz, who dominated skiing in the 1930s, as the only Alpine skier to have won a specific event at four world championships.

Shiffrin's victory made her only the third American woman to win two golds at the same world championships, after Lindsey Vonn (2009) and Andrea Mead Lawrence (1952).

Slovakia's Petra Vlhova, who beat Shiffrin to gold in the giant slalom, was a full second back in third place.

"When I crossed the finish I couldn't believe that I had a chance of a medal because I took risks and made mistakes," Vlhova, Slovakia's first Alpine skiing world champion, said.

Source(s): Reuters