Queen of the slopes: Shiffrin earns women's record 83rd World Cup alpine victory
CBC
Exhaustion. Relief. Satisfaction.
American skier Mikaela Shiffrin felt all that and more after winning a record 83rd World Cup race Tuesday in Italy.
Shiffrin's giant slalom victory broke a tie on the all-time women's list with former teammate Lindsey Vonn, who retired four years ago when injuries cut her career short.
"I don't think there are words to explain all the feelings," Shiffrin said. "In the end of it, it's like there's too much excitement to feel. I don't know if that makes sense. So it's something you can't explain. So I just try to breathe a bit and enjoy it."
Shiffrin now needs only three more wins to match Ingemar Stenmark's overall mark — between men and women — of 86 victories. Stenmark competed in the 1970s and 80s.
Shiffrin led from start to finish at the Kronplatz resort in the Italian Dolomites, posting a two-run time of 2:00.61, 45-100ths of a second ahead of world champion Lara Gut-Behrami (2:01.06) and 1.43 ahead of home favourite and former overall champion Federica Brignone (2:02.04).
WATCH | Shiffrin breaks women's World Cup record with 83rd win:
Canada's Valérie Grenier, who won giant slalom gold for the first time on Jan. 7 and prevented Shiffrin from setting the record that day in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, placed ninth on Tuesday in 2:02.97 after sitting fourth following the opening run.
Cassidy Gray of Invermere, B.C., was 49th of 53 finishers in the first run and didn't advance while teammate Britt Richardson of Canmore, Alta., didn't finish her run.
WATCH | Grenier cracks top 10 in Kronplatz:
Shiffrin posted the fastest first run and was therefore the last skier to race in the second run.
"I was a bit nervous for the second run, but mostly, I hate waiting," Shiffrin said. "Finally, when it was time to go, then it was like everything went quiet, and I just pushed as hard as I could every turn. It was pretty amazing to come through the finish and see that I was quite fast.
"Because I could hear that the other athletes were skiing well. I thought, 'I could lose this, so I better try to ski a really good run.' And it was."
Shiffrin seemed exhausted and relieved immediately after finishing, bending over and resting her head on her poles and then biting her lips before going over to embrace Gut-Behrami and Brignone.
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