Triple Olympic champion Schneider: "Shiffrin will be the greatest of all time"

Mikaela Shiffrin has reached a new milestone in her career.

The double Olympic champion has won the city event in Stockholm, Sweden, and equalled Vreni Schneider's record for most World Cup wins in one season (14), set by the Swiss skier in the 1988/89 season.

The American, who also secured her sixth slalom title in seven years with two races left, has now the chance to surpass the three-time Olympic gold medallist, starting from next events in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, or Rosa Khutor, Russia.

"I am certain she will break my record this season but that is no problem at all," the 54-year-old Schneider told the Olympic Channel. "There are worse things than being beaten by Shiffrin!"

Schneider's 14 victories came in slalom (7), giant slalom (6) and combined (1). While, once thought of as a technical specialist, Shiffrin has turned into a superb all-rounder, also winning three Super G races.

"Mikaela is winning everything. Slalom, giant slalom, Super G - that is really impressive. She is incredible," the Olympic champion from Calgary 1988 and Lillehammer 1994 said.

With 57 World Cup wins, Shiffrin, who turns 24 on March 13, is just five wins away from Annemarie Moser-Proell, who sits second (62) on the women's all-time list behind Lindsey Vonn (82), with Schneider in fourth (55).

"If she stays healthy, she will break many more records, she is still so young." Switzerland's most successful alpine ski racer added, "She is the most versatile skier on the circuit."

This season the Colorado-born phenom has added more records to her collection.

Last December, at the Super G in Lake Louise, Canada, she became one of the seven women to have won in all five disciplines and she ended 2018 with the most wins in a calendar year (15).

In Are, Sweden, the American made more history by collecting an unprecedented fourth consecutive gold in slalom at the World championships, despite fighting with a chest cold.

“She is so superior technically. And she has an amazing feeling for the snow regardless of what the conditions are," Schneider commented.

The 54-year-old, who now runs a ski school in her home village of Elm, is also a big admirer of Shiffrin's personality:

“She is a very nice person, very authentic and very down to earth".

In Stockholm, the overall World Cup leader proved once again to be difficult to beat.

Skiing under lights of the Sweden’s capital, the 23-year-old trailed Germany's Christina Geiger by 0.01 seconds after the first run, but turned things around with an energetic second run.

"I was consistent, and for tonight, that was enough,” she said visibly exhausted after the race. "Now, I have some time to really recover."

Shiffrin, who's leading the Super G and Giant Slalom standings, is chasing her third consecutive World Cup overall title.