Mikaela Shiffrin claims 99th World Cup win in Gurgl
The U.S. alpine skiing star took the win in Austria ahead of World Cup podium debutants Lara Colturi and Camille Rast to move one step closer to 100 World Cup wins.
Alpine Skiing
Mikaela Shiffrin secured her record-extending 99th career World Cup win in the Gurgl slalom on Saturday (23 November) to stay on top of the overall 2024/25 Alpine Skiing FIS World Cup standings.
Leading by 0.13 seconds after the first run, the two-time Olympic gold medallist sealed the victory by a margin of 0.55 seconds from Albanian 18-year-old Lara Colturi, and Camille Rast of Switzerland, who both secured their first-ever World Cup podiums with their efforts in Austria.
Wendy Holdener, just behind Shiffrin after the first run, had looked on pace to challenge the U.S. star but the Swiss suffered from a few too many mistakes in the second part of the second run and slid out of the top three.
This was Shiffrin's 62 World Cup slalom win and her second in as many weeks after triumphing in Levi, Finland last weekend.
It was also her 154th career Alpine World Cup podium on Saturday which means that she is just one shy of that record held by Sweidsh legend Ingemar Stenmark.
"I was really nervous on the top," Shiffrin shared post-race. "It feels really satisfying to have a great run down this slope. What a wonderful day today."
With momentum in her sails, Shiffrin will now bid for World Cup victory number 100 on home snow as World Cup action moves to Killington, Vermont where she is scheduled to compete in the slalom and giant slalom.
“I guess there’s a bit of pressure around it, but I’ll try to ignore that,” she said. “If it happens, it’s wonderful. If it doesn’t happen, nothing to cry about in the grand scheme. I hope to have a really good performance in front of the home crowd.”
Should Shiffrin fail to reach the fabled century milestone there, the skiing legend will have more opportunity to do so while in North America with stops in Tremblant, Canada and Beaver Creek to follow.
Gurgl, 2024/25 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup: Results from women's slalom, 23 November 2024 (top 10):
- Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) 1:40.22
- Lara Colturi (ALB) +0.55
- Camille Rast (SUI) +0.57
- Wendy Holdener (SUI) +0.75
- Lena Duerr (GER) +0.80
- Paula Moltzan (USA) +1.10
- Katharina Liensberger (AUT) +1.14
- Sara Hector (SWE) +1.22
- Zrinka Ljutic (CRO) +1.63
- Melanie Meillard (SUI) +1.91