Mikaela Shiffrin won her 82nd career World Cup ski race on Sunday, tying fellow American Lindsey Vonn for most ever by a women’s alpine skier.
Shiffrin hit the milestone by winning the giant slalom in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, giving her six wins in her past seven races. Her winning combined time of the race’s two runs was 1:52.53, besting Italy’s Federica Brignone, who totaled 1:53.30.
“I was so nervous this run,” Shiffrin said after the victory. “I don’t know why maybe a little bit was because of 82. I really wanted to ski it well and I did, can’t believe it.”
Shiffrin reached 82 wins in 233 races. It took Vonn 395 to amass that total.
Shiffrin, 27, now stands four wins away from tying Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark, who has the most World Cup wins by any alpine skier with 86.
Her next scheduled race is the slalom in Flachau, Austria. With the season set to end in mid-March, it is expected she will compete in at least 10 more races this winter.
In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, Stenmark said he has no doubt Shiffrin will surpass Vonn’s record — and then his.
“Shiffrin is such a great skier with a fantastic technique and really deserves to break my record. I will be happy for her when she does,” Stenmark said, adding, “She will be the first to reach 100 World Cup victories.”
Shiffrin has reached the pinnacle of her sport again nearly a year after her confidence was rocked at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Competing in six events, she fell in three and left China without a medal.
–Field Level Media