Mikaela Shiffrin continued her slalom domination with a record-extending 103rd Alpine skiing World Cup win in the Austrian resort of Gurgl on Sunday.
Shiffrin is a big gold medal hope for the US team at February’s Winter Olympics, and the 30-year-old made it two out of two for the season in slalom with another impressively aggressive display. She also won the final slalom of last season, giving her three World Cup victories in a row.
Lara Colturi, the 19-year-old who skis for Albania but is the Italian-born daughter of Italy’s 2002 Olympic Super-G gold medallist Daniela Ceccarelli, finished second with Switzerland’s reigning world champion Camille Rast third.
The top two were the same as in the season’s opening slalom in Levi, Finland, with Shiffrin 0.31 seconds faster than Colturi in the first leg and extending her advantage to 1.23 at the finish after also going quickest in the second run. The podium was also exactly the same as last year’s top three in the slalom at Gurgl, with Shiffrin celebrating her 99th win that time.
“I had to push so hard but it was really nice with the sun on the second run,” said Shiffrin, whose total tally now features a record 66 World Cup slalom victories. “Last year I remember it was so dark so this was a really nice surprise. It was pretty much exactly how I expected. Not easy but I knew the others were pushing so there’s no choice, you have to go.”
The race was Colturi’s 60th in the World Cup and she was surprised by her first back-to-back podium.
“The snow was really soft and when I saw it, I had a first inspection and I thought ‘ah, it’s probably not my day,” she said.
Croatia’s Zrinka Ljutic, who won last season’s slalom crystal globe, straddled a gate on the second run while Austria’s Katharina Liensberger, the Beijing 2022 Olympic silver medallist, failed to finish the first run.
The next races on the women’s technical circuit are in Copper Mountain, Colorado, at the end of the month and Shiffrin was looking forward to some time at home.
“I have to get some [giant slalom] training again and I’m really excited to go to Copper. I stay in my own bed for the first time during the season,” she said.
