Mikaela Shiffrin gets her record 86th World Cup victory

Mikaela Shiffrin. GEPA pictures.

ARE, Sweden — Mikaela Shiffrin won her record-tying 86th World Cup race Friday with her sixth victory in a giant slalom this season. She also clinched the 2023 season GS title. It is the second GS title of her significant career.

By adding her 86th career victory, she tied Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark 34 year old record for the most World Cup wins by an individual.

Joining Shiffrin on her historical podium is Italy’s Federica Brignone (+0.64) in second and home country hero Sweden’s Sara Hector (+0.92) in third.

Shiffrin crossed the finish line and put her hands to her helmet, then to her face and shook her head slowly while taking in the enormity of her achievement.

“This is just a spectacular day. Oh my goodness,” she said in a course-side interview.

Shiffrin started cautiously in her second run under the floodlights in the fast-darkening afternoon, letting half of her 1.04-second first-run advantage over Brignone slip before picking up time on the bottom half.

Brignone made a theatrical bow toward Shiffrin in the post-race ceremony in the finish area.

It was Shiffrin’s fourth straight wire-to-wire win in World Cup giant slaloms since January. In that time, she also took gold in the event at last month’s world championships in Meribel, France.

Shiffrin won her first World Cup race in Are, a slalom in December 2012, and then earned two gold medals at the 2019 worlds at the Swedish resort. It was also where she was due to race again in March 2020 after the death of her father the previous month, but the races were called off because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’ve had a quite a few different experiences here,” Shiffrin said after her first run on Friday. “I have felt everything you can feel here so it’s special to be back.”

It is poetic that Shiffrin equaled Stenmark’s total in his home country of Sweden and that Stenmark’s 86th victory was achieved in the United States.

Stenmark told The Associated Press last month that Shiffrin is “much better than I was.”

Once again, Shiffrin reveals that her 2023 GS is incomparable. She continues skiing with extraordinary precision and awareness, which has been a privilege to witness. Her transitions, moving her weight from ski to ski, are nearly perfect.

Shiffrin has won 86 World Cups, 20 of which are GS. She has won the 2023 Slalom, GS and Overall titles but did it one turn and one moment at a time. She did it with a dedication to her sport few have matched.

Making more World Cup history on Friday, Shiffrin’s 20th career victory in the giant slalom — six of them this season — matched the all-time women’s mark held by Vreni Schneider.

Schneider got her wins between 1984 and 1992. The Swiss racer, like Shiffrin, also has Olympic and world championship gold medals in both giant slalom and slalom.

Joining Shiffrin and Grenier, sixth, in the top 30, are Stifel US Alpine Team members Paula Moltzan, 15th and Nina O’Brien, 16th. Both women skied well and qualified to compete in the GS at Soldeu Andorra World Cup Finals.

The FIS invites the best 25 skiers from each discipline to compete in the World Cup finals. After a difficult start to the season, Nina O’Brien ended the regular season tied for 25th. Her return from her Olympic injury appears to be quite successful.

Notably, the Swedish women delighted their home fans by finishing the day with four women in the points, and Hector led the charge in third.

Final results and analysis of the fastest 30 and top 30 North Americans

Analysis of the fastest three and top 30 North Americans

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This is a developing story, stay tuned for updates.