At only 27 years old, Mikaela Shiffrin’s trajectory and her appetite for victories are exceptional. After Vonn, she could tackle the absolute record of Swede Ingemar Stenmark (86). The champion from Vail (Colorado) has already won everything a skier could dream of, with two Olympic titles, six world titles and four big crystal globes, the last of which last season.
She, who had been less dominating for three years, finds insane statistics this winter: Shiffrin has won the last five races on the world circuit (one super-G, two giant, two slaloms), including three last week in Semmering (Austria). 500 points out of 500 possible.
389 point lead
In thirteen starts this season, the American has triumphed seven times and now has a 389-point lead in the general classification over the Slovak Petra Vlhova, the Olympic slalom champion, impotent second in the race on Wednesday at 76 hundredths of a second.
“I felt very strong, solid, with two very good ‘runs’. Everything was difficult but I didn’t feel unbalanced, when I sense danger, I hold back,” she explained at a press conference. .
“Over the last five races I’ve been able to show my best level. For me it doesn’t matter five in a row, 81 or 51 (his slalom wins), it’s hard to make sense of those numbers,” she added.
Favorite at Worlds
In great shape, Shiffrin is the big favorite for the Courchevel/Méribel World Championships (February 6-19) where she will have the opportunity to make up for her failure at the Beijing Olympics last winter (no medal, three runway exits).
In Zagreb, on a track made difficult by the very mild temperatures of the last few days, the American took the lead in the first heat before driving the point home on the second track, to overtake Vlhova. The Swedish Anna Swenn Larsson completed the podium, 1 second and 21 hundredths.