Shiffrin wins Spindleruv Mlyn slalom, moves within 1 win of World Cup record
SPINDLERUV MLYN,CZECH REPUBLIC,28.JAN.23 – Mikaela Shiffrin. Photo: GEPA pictures
SPINDLERUV MLYN, Czech Republic — American skier Mikaela Shiffrin dominated a slalom Saturday for her 85th career victory to move within one of the World Cup record set by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark in 1989.
Shiffrin can match the best mark of 86 wins in Sunday’s slalom.
Spindleruv Mlyn offered a fantastic race venue and crowd. It was a perfect stage for Shiffrin to win her 85th career World Cup. Undoubtedly, maintaining her process focus must be very difficult, with the incredible attention on her outcomes. Notably, It would be fitting if she matched the win total of Ingemar Stenmark tomorrow at the venue where her World Cup career began in 2011.
The race occurred at the resort near the Czech-Poland border, where she experienced her World Cup debut as a 15-year-old almost 12 years ago. Shiffrin also won when the venue last hosted a World Cup race in 2019.
“My first World Cup race was here and my dad came with me on that trip, he was here the last time we raced here as well. I think it was four years ago. I feel really comfortable and happy to be here, but I can feel there’s something missing,” said Shiffrin.
There is no doubt Shiffrin can win in any conditions. She can win skiing all types of course sets. She can win on any slope. Most of all, she finds a way to succeed in a fantastic field of elite athletes. She is in a situation where only a few in any industry exist.
“Wow, I can hear you all so loud. Thank you for cheering; it’s amazing to race for this crowd,” she said to the spectators during a post-race interview.
Even when faced with a challenge, Shiffrin can find her outside ski and arc it as much as possible. She knows she has to push to her limit, but on a typical day, her limitation is higher than any of the other women. Once again, she was the fastest in both runs in today’s race.
The American held an advantage of 0.29 seconds after the opening run but lost one-tenth of the advantage after going wide on a few turns early in the final before speeding up and posting the fastest run time again to beat Germany’s Lena Dürr by 0.60 seconds.
Shiffrin laid the foundation for her victory with a clean opening run, in which she had a fast start and already led her competitors by at least a quarter of a second at the first intermediate time.
During the first run, she gained a time advantage in a vertical combination that could be run two ways.
“You could ski it either way,” Shiffrin said. “I was able to really carry a lot of speed into the end of the course. In the end, I felt very good on my run.”
“I knew it would take some risk and there’s a chance that I don’t finish at all, but I have to do my best turns to have a chance because these women are so strong,” Shiffrin said.
Today provided the thrill of Shiffrin chasing another victory but there was a great race for second place. Germany’s Duerr was, without a doubt, the second best. Her skiing was very clean and she could find her inside edge early in the turns and accelerate to the finish. Amazingly, this woman with 13 podiums and tremendous skills has never won a slalom, likely because she competes in the era of Shiffrin.
In third today is Switzerland’s, Wendy Holdener. She used the fourth-fastest final run to move up one position and finish on the podium. Right behind her was the fantastic Petra Vlhova. She had the most extensive fan base in the finish but struggled in the final sector, causing her to drop one position to fourth.
American Paula Moltzan had the opposite experience. After losing momentum into the flat during the first run, she skied brilliantly on the second to move from 11th to fifth. Notably, Her final run was the third fastest of the afternoon. Moltzan continues to show all the skills needed to be a regular podium contender in both giant slalom and slalom.
When asked how she improved on her second run Moltzan said, “I think I just knew that the tempo was really high, the whole run top to bottom. So just staying with that temp and finding it quickly out of the gate.”
Three Canadians also were able to score points today. Laurence St-Germain finished the day 15th. Ali Nullmeyer struggled to find her usual speed but finished 19th. Amelia Smart made a big mistake in the flat and had no momentum into the finish but also scored a valuable World Cup point.
The biggest move of the second run came from Croatia’s Leona Popovic. She tied Shiffrin for the fastest second run and moved from 20th to seventh. Also, bib 46, Italian, Anita Gulli moved 11 positions to finish 14th. Notably, Sweden’s Junior World SL and GS Champion, Hanna Aronsson Elfman, raced with bib 24 and ended the day eighth.
Analysis of the fastest three, North Americans and final results.
Results of January 28th Spindleruv Mlyn SL
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This is a developing story, stay tuned for updates.
About the Author: SR Staff Report
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