Mikaela Shiffrin wraps up overall title after Super G second place at World Cup Finals
The American finished second behind winner Ragnhild Mowinckel in Courchevel to mathematically clinch her fourth career overall Crystal Globe with two events to go.
Alpine Skiing
Mikaela Shiffrin has etched her name in the alpine ski history books again.
The two-time Olympic champion, and six-time world gold medallist, finished second in the last women's Super G of the season at the World Cup Finals in Courchevel-Meribel, France, on Thursday (17 March) to claim the overall World Cup title for for the fourth time in her career.
After winning the downhill on Wednesday, Shiffrin produced another fast performance on the Eclipse course as she crossed the finish line in a time just 0.05s slower than winner Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway: by doing so the 27-year-old earned 80 points and extended her lead to 236 points over defending World Cup champion Petra Vlhova. The Slovak ended in 17th place and didn't score a point.
With 200 points at stake in the last two technical races, Shiffrin has officially wrapped up the title, becoming the third woman to win the overall crystal globe more than three times, after Annemarie Moser-Pröll (6) and Lindsey Vonn (4).
Shiffrin on securing her fourth giant globe: 'I'm proud of it'
That's the first overall title for Shiffrin since claiming straight giant globes from 2017-19.
Ahead of the last two technical races over the weekend, the American has collected 74 career wins in World Cup, five of them this season, which makes her the third most successful skier in history behind Vonn (82) and Ingemar Stenmark (86).
Shiffrin earned her fourth giant crystal ball just one month after coming away from the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games with no medals and 3 DNFs.
In a season where she had to overcome a back injury and Covid, the Vail-born skier has stepped on the podium 13 times across all four main disciplines (downhill, super G, giant slalom, slalom).
"I feel like it was the most unlikely, in some ways it felt impossible that this could happen," she told reporters.
"There were many times during the season, where I was thinking, 'I'm not going to race the downhills in Crans Montana, I have to get some training back and some rest after these Olympics because we skied 20 days in a row in China and I've never done that in my career.
"Knowing what we're doing and the women I'm competing against, they don't give a little bit and you cannot take that for granted and I don't. And that's why sometimes I chose not to race, and train or recover.
"In the end these decisions worked out to be here now and it just seemed like the most unlikely thing that could happen and somehow it worked out and I'm proud of it, I'm thankful and really grateful!"