The International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup season is hitting its stride, and so to it appears Mikaela Shiffrin is hitting hers.
The 27-year-old American had a disappointing Beijing 2022 Olympics where she failed to win a medal in five events, despite being a heavy favorite.
In St. Moritz, Switzerland for the first speed race weekend of the women’s World Cup season, Shiffrin won the Super-G event for her 77th career win.
That leaves her just five wins shy of the women’s record held by another American legend, Lindsey Vonn.
“You never know with Super-G especially, you have to push so hard,” Shiffrin told reporters afterward. “I was not thinking about what’s going to happen in the finish until I got there. I had a very, very good run, so I’m happy with that.”
Shiffrin sped down the Corviglia course and finished 0.12 seconds ahead of Italian Elena Curtoni, who won the downhill event earlier in the weekend. Romane Miradoli of France completed the podium.
This was Shiffrin’s first speed race since the World Cup finals in March. Sixty-three of her 77 wins have come in slalom or giant slalom events.
“I think that can help me with my giant slalom, and maybe even a bit with slalom, to know if I can do in downhill and Super-G and downhill, I can do it in giant slalom and slalom,” she said.
The three-time Olympic medalist and four-time overall FIS World Champion, including last season, has now extended her overall lead over Sofia Goggia to 105 points in the standings.
Goggia, who finished fifth just a day after winning the downhill, broke two bones in her left hand after she hit a gate. She underwent surgery and returned to the slopes the next day, albeit with her left hand taped to her ski pole.
Shiffrin will have a chance to inch closer to Vonn’s record as the next women’s World Cup races are two giant slaloms and one slalom in Semmering, Austria, Dec. 27-29.
In fact the next eight races scheduled are all technical events, before the speed events return in mid-January. Shiffrin will look to widen the gap between her and Goggia while closing the one between her and history.
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