Shiffrin wins seventh consecutive World Cup slalom

Mikaela Shiffrin made it seven World Cup slalom victories in a row in Zagreb on Saturday.

Another win on Tuesday in Flachau, Austria would see the American match the record win streak of eight achieved by Vreni Schneider (1989) and Janica Kostelic (2001).

Shiffrin stamped her authority on proceedings with a blistering first run.

Petra Vlhova, who beat Shiffrin in the Oslo parallel slalom on New Year's Day, had to settle for second with Wendy Holdener of Switzerland rounding out the podium.

Shiffrin, a three-time previous winner in Zagreb, produced another masterclass to dominate her rivals.

Wearing start bib 6, the double Olympic champion clocked 59.70 on the first run, a huge 1.15 seconds clear of the field.

Holdener was second with Vlhova a further 0.19 behind.

Sweden's PyeongChang 2018 slalom gold medallist Frida Hansdotter trailed Shiffrin by 2.36 seconds after the first run, but she improved on the second run to move up a place into fourth overall.

Vlhova and Holdener finished second and third in the last World Cup slalom of 2018 at Semmering, Austria.

They were the only women within two seconds of Shiffrin on the first run in Croatia, and Vlhova skied superbly on the second run to move into the lead.

Holdener could not respond, and she had to settle for second behind the Slovak with just one skier to come.

Shiffrin was unable to match Vlhova's effort, but she did not need to.

She had the second-fastest time on the second descent to claim victory by 1.25 seconds with Holdener half a second further back.

Hansdotter in fourth was a yawning 2.97 seconds adrift.

The numbers behind the success

At just 23, Shiffrin has the potential to break every alpine skiing record in the book.

She has won every World Cup slalom since PyeongChang, her winning run beginning at Ofterschwang, Germany on March 10th 2018.

And including her victory on home snow in Killington in November 2017, Shiffrin has won 12 of the last 13 World Cup slaloms.

This was her 37th World Cup slalom victory, putting her two clear of Marlies Schild on the all-time list, and her 52nd career World Cup triumph.

Schild's sole slalom World Championship title came in 2011 with Shiffrin taking the crown in 2013 and retaining it in 2015 and 2017.

Few would bet against her clinching her fourth consecutive world title next month in Are, Sweden.