U.S. ski star Shiffrin wins season's first World Cup slalom

LEVI, Finland (AP) — American ski star Mikaela Shiffrin earned her record-extending 98th career World Cup win Saturday to give herself the chance to compete for victory No. 100 in front of a home crowd.

Regardless of her result in a slalom in Austria next week, Shiffrin could reach the milestone in two races in Killington, Vermont on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, respectively.

The two-time Olympic champion, who is from Colorado, can almost consider Killington a hometown race because she honed her skills nearby at the Burke Mountain Academy as a teenager.

On Saturday, Shiffrin dominated the first women’s World Cup slalom of the season for her 98th win. No other skier, male of female, has won more than 86 races.

“Amazing way to start the slalom season, I’m super happy,” the American said.

Reigning world champion Laurence St-Germain of St. Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que., placed 10th.

The 30-year-old Canadian was two and a quarter seconds back of Shiffrin. An ankle injury limited St-Germain's races last season.

She ranked 27th after her opening run, but posted the third-fastest time in her second run to vault into the top 10.

"I’m really happy with my second run today,” St-Germain said. “I was a little stiff in the first run, so I really wanted to ski with instinct and freedom in the second run. This run wasn’t perfect, but I really went for it and that’s how you have to ski in Levi.”

“I felt like myself in the race today, and I haven’t said that in a while because of my ankle. We had some good workouts leading up to Levi and that helped me build confidence, especially in the second run, and it was great to race feeling healthy.”

Shiffrin built on a big first-run lead with an aggressive yet controlled second run down the Levi Black course to beat 2021 slalom world champion Katharina Liensberger of Austria by 0.79 seconds.

Lena Duerr of Germany dropped from second to third, 0.83 behind Shiffrin, and was the last skier to finish less than a second off the lead.

Croatian prodigy Zrinka Ljutic who was third after the opening run, lost three spots.

Olympic champion Petra Vlhova, Shiffrin’s biggest rival in slalom, sat out the race as the Slovakian needed more to time to recover from knee surgery last season.

Shiffrin also led the season-opening giant slalom in Austria three weeks ago, but squandered that advantage in the second run to finish fifth.

On Saturday, Shiffrin initially extended her lead to a massive 1.25 seconds early in her final run before losing a few tenths.

“I was getting twisted sometimes, but then keep fighting. Not the perfect tempo, but enough really good turns that it works really well. In the end, a really solid run in conditions not so easy,” she said.

“From this weekend, I am racing every single weekend until world championships (in February), for sure. So it’s going be a really big push now, and I was a little bit off on my mentality in Soelden, so hopefully I can bring the GS under control. But it was very important to start with a good place in slalom.”

Shiffrin has triumphed in the last five slaloms she competed in. She won both races at the end of last season after her return from a knee injury following a downhill crash in January, clinching her eighth World Cup season title in the discipline.

Shiffrin has triumphed a record eight times in the traditional season-opening slalom in Finnish Lapland, where the winner is given a reindeer as a prize.

No skier other than Shiffrin or Vlhova has won the race since then overall champion Tina Maze triumphed in 2014.

Asked about a name for her reindeer, Shiffrin said she would “check with the team and my teammates and see what everybody says.”

Shiffrin positioned herself for victory with a convincing opening run, in which she posted the fastest split times in three of the four sections.

"I felt strong and solid and good energy. Little bit nervous, like first race, first slalom of the season, so I’m happy with how I managed the mentality and pushed with my skiing,” she said.

Shiffrin’s teammate Paula Moltzan went from fifth to eighth position.

In the opening run, Moltzan was 0.05 seconds faster than Shiffrin on the flat opening section of the course but lost time going into the steep part and ultimately trailed by 0.90. In the second run, Moltzan posted the 17th-fastest time and ended 1.51 behind Shiffrin.

A men's slalom on the same hill is scheduled for Sunday. The women's World Cup continues with another slalom in Gurgl, Austria next Saturday.

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