Featured Image: Mikaela Shiffrin. Credit: GEPA
Mikaela Shiffrin of the Stifel US Ski Team achieves 100 World Cup victories! Her extraordinary performance was unmatched, and she was overwhelmed with emotion.
Shiffrin expressed her gratitude with remarkable respect and turned to the excitement of achieving this milestone with a long-time teammate: “I think it’s pretty special to share it with Paula, my teammate. I could hear everybody cheering from the start when she went, and I thought, ‘Okay, it’s like a day of training. It’s like we just keep pushing, and she pushes, and I push, and I made it achievable.’”
Shiffrin also matched Ingemar Stenmark’s record for the most podium finishes of any athlete, with 155 top 3 finishes.
For Shiffrin, it was hard for her to express how much this meant to her, as it is difficult to convey the immense effort and dedication she poured into reaching this extraordinary milestone.
She did not think this would happen today. She stated, “Not in the last few weeks. I felt like today, a lot of things had to go right for me and actually wrong for some others.”
“But in the end, I did something right, too,” Shiffrin emotionally expressed.
Returning to Snow from Injury to Setting Records
Shiffrin was injured in the giant slalom in the Killington World Cup earlier this season. Therefore, being able to come back and race in the same season is already a feat.
She has expressed the mental barriers she has been struggling with as she returns to snow.
The first two days in Sestriere, she was challenged in the giant slaloms and did not qualify for Saturday’s second run. However, today, she arrived at the start gate ready to tackle those obstacles and make history.
Not Letting the Goal of Record-Breaking Hinder Her Skiing
This season, Shiffrin has expressed that she didn’t want this milestone to overwhelm her mentality and hinder her skiing.
Toward the beginning of the season, she stated, “There have been years where I’ve been more aware of expectations, maybe even a little distracted by them.”
She remembered her 50th World Cup victory as a turning point: “I remember being so focused on that number and then realizing it was making me more nervous. I thought, ‘This is silly. Why should this make me more nervous?’”
“When I keep my mindset focused on skiing well, on implementing the tools, tactics, and fundamentals that I’ve been working on in training—that’s when my competition is at its highest level,” Shiffrin stated.
Podium
The women entered the final day of the Sestriere World Cup event with perfect weather, clear skies, and excellent conditions, so they went for it—the tight times from the first run added to the excitement.
Paula Moltzan of the Stifel US Ski Team was in 4th place, coming into the second run +0.04 off the podium. She started with fierce energy, attacking each section of the course.
She settled some on the pitch but had a nerve-wracking bobble near the last section of the course. Nevertheless, she recovered as she often does and gave everything coming into the course’s final gates.
She bumped Cornelia Oehlund out of the leader’s chair and eventually achieved 3rd place. This marks the 30-year-old’s third slalom podium of her World Cup career.
Moltzan stated, “I think there were a lot of mistakes in the second run, but I kept trying to keep my skis going down the hill. I had known that everyone in front of me was coming behind Cornelia, and the speakers were loud at the start, so I wanted to put everything on the line and see how it played out.”
“When I saw green crossing the finish line, I felt like I could take a deep breath,” she stated.
After the morning, Zrinka Ljutić of Croatia expressed that she had more to give in the second run.
She pushed through the different sectors of the course and executed the transition onto the lower flats impressively, carrying enough speed to sneak ahead of Moltzan. She nervously waited at the bottom to see what Mikaela Shiffrin would do. With Shiffrin’s win, Ljutić finished the day in 2nd place.
This marks Ljutić’s eighth World Cup podium finish.
Cornelia Oehlund’s Impressive Second Run Charge
After the first run, Cornelia Oehlund of Sweden was 23rd, +2.08 off the lead. The 19-year-old let that fuel her, unveiling passion, energy, and grit in the second run.
In her 25th World Cup start, Oehlund impressively moved up 18 places in the second run and finished in 5th place, a personal best for the Swedish athlete.
North Americans
Alpine Canada Alpin athlete Ali Nullmeyer was in 13th place heading into the second run, +1.05 behind Shiffrin’s time. She charged the second run and let the skis run, accelerating through each turn. She finished the day in 11th place, her best this season.
This season, Nullmeyer earned 13th and 18th place, so this result was impressive for the Canadian.
AJ Hurt of the Stifel US Ski Team struggled with the transition of the turn, which showed in the first run, costing her time. However, in the finale, she went full throttle on a second run charge.
For the 24-year-old, slalom has been challenging this season, with three DNFs out of four, so this result marked a big moment for Hurt. She concluded the day in 13th place, tied with Albanian Lara Colturi.
Hurt said, “I am very happy with it. I have had a tough slalom season with many DNFs, so I am glad to get two runs in.”
Laurence St-Germain of Alpine Canada Alpin was fourth out of the gate. She was +2.31 behind the lead after the first run, so she had to go all out.
The Canadian has been searching for consistency again this season. In the second run, she showed composed, technically strong skiing. She finished the day in 27th place.
Jessica Hilzinger: The Highest Bib Number in 2nd Run
German Jessica Hilzinger was the highest bib number to qualify for the second run. Racing bib 41, the athlete threw down a solid first run to enter the final run +1.93 behind the lead.
Unfortunately, her transition between the turns was slightly slower than needed to move up on the leaderboard. However, she finished the day in 29th place, her third top-30 slalom finish of the 2025 season.
Top 3 Analysis
Top 30 First Run Results
Other North Americans in the Top 30
About the Author: Ellie Hartman
