Shiffrin Joins Elite Fab 5 Club
Mikaela Shiffrin (Avon, Colo.) joined an elite club with her 56th career FIS Ski World Cup victory in Saturday’s slalom in Maribor, Slovenia. She not only took sole position of fifth on the all-time World Cup win list, but she also broke the American record for World Cup victories - 13 - in a single season.
But Saturday’s victory wasn’t an easy one for Shiffrin.
“The first run was a pretty big fight for a lot of reasons,” said Shiffrin, who took a one-second lead over Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova on the first run. “There's just so many things that were happening after yesterday, and today so it was a bit more difficult to be focused. I was feeling quite uncertain if I could ski fast enough.”
Indeed, her second World Cup win of the weekend - Shiffrin and Vlhova tied for the giant slalom victory Friday - came on the heels of teammate Lindsey Vonn’s (Vail, Colo.) retirement announcement Friday, and a peppering from the media about what’s Vonn’s career has meant for the sport and her own career. However, Shiffrin made it clear that while Vonn may have paved the way as the most successful women’s alpine ski racer with 82 World Cup wins, she sets her own goals and objectives.
“What she’s done for the sport is incredible. I would never try to carry that torch,” Shiffrin said. “I’ll carry my own torch.”
The two-time defending World Cup champion has become the most dominant ski racer in the sport the past couple of seasons. And while the accolades continue to pile on, she remains focused on one thing, and one thing only - skiing the best she can.
“The numbers dehumanize what we’re all doing,” she said. “People have said it’s boring when the same person continues to win. For me - and for us as competitors - it’s not boring. Every race is a fight. There’s always a new goal to keep doing better, and the competition is always strong. It’s exciting, it’s nerve-wracking and there’s never any certainty. The numbers are amazing, but summing it all up to a number - it’s not possible for me. Sometimes I’m nervous, sometimes I’m confident. It’s not about winning. It’s about making my best turns.”
Facing a soft track on a warm Saturday afternoon, Shiffrin indeed focused on making her best turns. While not posting the fastest second run - that honor went to Austria’s Chiara Mair, who came out of the 35th start position to post her second career top-15 World Cup result - Shiffrin held on for the victory after Vlhova struggled in her second run and fell to fifth. Sweden’s Anna Swenn Larsson finished a career-best second, followed by Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener in third. Paula Moltzan (Burlington, Vt.) posted her fourth top-20 World Cup slalom result of the season, finishing 16th.
With the victory, Shiffrin is now fifth on the all-time World Cup win list. Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark holds the record with 86 victories. Vonn is second with 82. Austria’s Marcel Hirscher has 68, followed by fellow Austria Annemarie Moser-Proll with 62, and Shiffrin with 56. Shiffrin also became the first American to win 13 World Cup races in a single season. The previous record was 12, held by Shiffrin and Vonn. Shiffrin is just one shy of Swiss Vreni Schneider’s record of 14 wins in a single season.
Up next, the 2019 FIS Ski World Championship start next week in Are, Sweden, and Shiffrin looks to carry the momentum.
“(Saturday’s win) is good for the confidence, but I also have to be careful not to take that for granted because every race is a fight and every victory is a fight,” she said. “I have big goals for World Championship, but nothing is guaranteed so just try to do my best to skiing and see what happens.”
RESULTS
Women’s slalom
HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
*Same-day broadcast
**Next-day broadcast
Sunday, Feb. 3
2:00 a.m. - Women’s giant slalom - Maribor, SLO - NBCSN**
4:30 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom run 1 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:30 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom run 2 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
Tuesday, Feb. 5
6:25 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s super-G, Are, SWE - NBCSN, NBC Sports Gold
Wednesday, Feb. 6
6:25 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s super-G, Are, SWE - NBCSN, NBC Sports Gold
Friday, Feb. 8
5:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s super combined downhill, Are, SWE - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
9:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s super combined downhill, Are, SWE - NBCSN*
10:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s super combined slalom, Are, SWE - NBCSN, NBC Sports Gold
Saturday, Feb. 9
6:30 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s downhill - Are, SWE - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
3:30 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s downhill - Are, SWE - NBC*
6:30 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s downhill - Are, SWE - NBCSN*
Sunday, Feb. 10
6:30 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s downhill - Are, SWE - Olympic Channel-TV, NBCSN, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
3:30 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s downhill - Are, SWE - NBC*
10:30 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s downhill - Are, SWE - NBCSN*
All streams are available via desktop (NBCSports.com/Live, NBCSports.com/Gold andOlympicChannel.com) as well as mobile, tablet and connected television platforms. The NBC Sports app, NBC Sports Gold app and Olympic Channel app are available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store, Apple TV and Amazon Fire. Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass.
