Killington (United States) (AFP) – US star Mikaela Shiffrin moved to within one win of equalling the World Cup women’s slalom record with a storming second run on Sunday for her third straight victory at Killington, Vermont.
The 23-year-old Shiffrin collected her 34th career slalom win with a storming second run for a combined time of 1min 43.25sec to easily beat runner-up Petra Vlhova of Slovakia.
“I’ve always wanted to be the best skier in the world,” Shiffrin said. “Slalom came sooner for me. For whatever reason it clicked earlier on.”
Shiffrin is just one win shy of Austrian Marlies Schild’s all-time record of 35 victories. She can match Schild’s mark at the next World Cup race in Courchevel, France on December 22.
“I don’t care if I break her record, I still feel like she’s the greatest slalom skier of this generation,” Shiffrin said.
“If I break her record or not, I fell like it’s not even comparable.”
Shiffrin, the reigning overall World Cup champion, was also first in the opening run with a time of 52.49sec.
Vlhova finished in 1:43.82 while Sweden’s Frida Hansdotter completed the podium with a time of 1:44.33.
Austria’s Bernadette Schild was fourth in 1:44.66 while Michelle Gisin of Switzerland rounded out the top five in 1:45.18.
Shiffrin came into Sunday’s slalom as the heavy favourite after winning the last two years.
She rebounded from a disappointing showing in Saturday’s giant slalom when she was upstaged by Italy’s Federica Brignone.
Brignone rallied to win the race in a time of 1:51.33 while Shiffrin just missed out on a podium spot, finishing 0.99sec behind in fourth.
Lindsey Vonn did not race in Killington and has yet to hit the slopes in her farewell season.
Vonn suffered a setback to the start of her 2018-19 season when she crashed during training Monday at Copper Mountain and she will not race at next weekend’s speed races at Lake Louise, Alberta.