Sports
Mikaela Shiffrin sets new World Cup alpine skiing record with 87th victory
|
American skier Mikaela Shiffrin set the outright World Cup record for most career victories with 87 by winning a slalom Saturday.
Shiffrin broke a tie with Ingemar Stenmark on the all-time overall winners list between men and women. The Swede competed in the 1970s and 80s.
Shiffrin had matched Stenmark’s mark of 86 wins with victory in a giant slalom Friday.
“Pretty hard to comprehend,” Shiffrin said about the record from Åre, Sweden.
After finishing the final run, the American crouched and rested her head on her knees. Her bother, Taylor Shiffrin, then came out and hugged her during the winners ceremony.
“My brother and sister-in-law are here and I didn’t know they were coming, that makes this so special,” Shiffrin said.
Stenmark’s record had stood since 1989, and the Swede saluted her achievement.
“She deserves the record more than anyone else,” he told the FIS website, standing by an earlier prediction Shiffrin would soar past 100 wins.
“She is a complete skier. She has a good technique, but it’s not only that. She has physical strength, she has a strong head — those things combined make her so good.
“And she’s smart, too. She doesn’t have to race at 100 per cent speed. She knows that the others have to go beyond their ability [to beat her] and that they will make some mistakes.”
Saturday’s result marked the American’s sixth slalom win of the season and the record-extending 53rd career win in the discipline.
Shiffrin dominated the first run and posted the fifth-fastest time in the second to beat Swiss skier Wendy Holdener by 0.92 seconds.
Third-place home favourite Anna Swenn Larsson was the last racer to finish within a second of Shiffrin’s time.
“The best feeling is to ski on the second run when of course you want to win, you have a lead so you have to be sort of be smart but also, I just wanted to be fast, too, and ski the second run like its own race,” Shiffrin said.
“I did exactly that and that is amazing.”
Winners of most alpine World Cups
- 87: Mikaela Shiffrin, United States (2012-23)
- 86: Ingemar Stenmark, Sweden (1974-89)
- 82: Lindsey Vonn, U.S. (2004-18)
- 67: Marcel Hirscher, Austria (2010-19)
- 62: Annemarie Moser-Pröll, Austria (1970-80)
- 55: Vreni Schneider, Switzerland (1984-95)
- 54: Hermann Maier, Austria (1997-2009)
- 50: Alberto Tomba, Italy (1987-98)
- 46: Marc Girardelli, Luxembourg (1983-96)
- 46: Renate Götschl, Austria (1993-2007)
- 42: Anja Pärson, Sweden (1998-2011)
- 40: Pirmin Zurbriggen, Switzerland (1982-90)
Laurence St-Germain of Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que., who won the slalom world title in France last month, was top Canadian in fifth, clocking 1:43.36. Toronto’s Ali Nullmeyer was 22nd of 26 finishers in 1:45.63 — her eighth top-25 finish in 10 slalom races this season — while Amelia Smart of Invermere, B.C., placed 43rd in a field of 44 (56.33) in the opening run and didn’t advance.
“It was pretty cool to be in the finish for Mikaela’s 87th World Cup win,” St-Germain told Alpine Canada. “I’m glad that I could be there to see it happen. We’ve all been expecting it, and it makes an amazing story that she did it at the place where she got her first World Cup win. It’s going to be a hard record to beat.”
Shiffrin has already locked up her fifth overall championship and the discipline titles in slalom and GS.
“It’s nice to race today. After such an incredible day yesterday, I feel like no pressure,” Shiffrin said after the opening run.
The victory gave Shiffrin the outright record 12 years to the day after her first race on the World Cup, as a 15-year-old at a GS in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic.
Shiffrin is set to compete in three more races this season at next week’s World Cup Finals. She has already locked up her fifth overall championship and the discipline titles in slalom and GS.
Alpine skiing Olympic gold medallist Bode Miller believes nobody in his lifetime will match fellow American Shiffrin’s extraordinary leap into the World Cup record books, saying she is a “once in a millennium” athlete.
She’s a once in a century or once a millennium-type athlete.— Alpine skiing Olympic champion Bode Miller on fellow American Mikaela Shiffrin
While European countries routinely dominate the Olympic medal table, Miller reckons her mark could stay within the grasp of the United States for decades to come.
“[Other countries] all want it — it’s an incredible record. They all want to have their athletes do it. It’s just she’s a once in a century or once a millennium-type athlete,” Miller told Reuters in a telephone interview.
“I don’t think we’ll see, at least in my lifetime, anyone come close to that again. It’s just so rare.”
Saturday’s race took place at a venue where many key moments in Shiffrin’s career happened. At the Swedish lakeside resort, she earned her first World Cup win in 2012 and took slalom gold at the 2019 world championships to become the first skier to win the world title in one discipline four times in a row.
However, Are was also the place where she sustained a knee injury that kept her away from the slopes for two months in the 2015-16 season, and where she was due to race again in March 2020 after the death of her father the previous month, but those races were called off because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“There’s just no part of it that’s easy — the fitness and everything, preparation required. When you step in the gate and it gets quiet, you know, you’re the only one,” said Miller.
“It’s not like you have a team to support you. It’s like all eyes are on you and every consequence is on you.”
Sports
The Bruins' strengths + vulnerabilities, and the path to a series victory for the Maple Leafs – MLHS Playoff Podcast – Maple Leafs Hot Stove
Founded in 2008, Maple Leafs Hotstove (MLHS) has grown to be the most visited independent team-focused hockey website online (Quantcast).
Independently owned and operated, MLHS provides thorough and wide-ranging content, varying from news, opinion and analysis, to pre-game and long-form game reviews, and a weekly feature piece entitled “Leafs Notebook.”
MLHS has been cited by: ESPN, Sports Illustrated, CBC News, USA Today, Fox Sports, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, TSN, Sportsnet, Grantland, CTV News, CBSSports, The Globe & Mail, The National Post, The Toronto Star, The Toronto Sun, Global News, Huffington Post, and many more.
Sports
Start time set for Game 1 in Maple Leafs-Bruins playoff series – Toronto Sun
Article content
Fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs will be tuning in a little bit later than usual on Saturday night to see the puck drop for Hockey Night in Canada.
Article content
The NHL announced the start times on Thursday for the Eastern Conference playoff matches and the Leafs and Bruins will faceoff at 8 p.m. ET in Boston on Saturday, a bit later than the usual 7 p.m. puck drop for Toronto.
Article content
The game will be broadcast on CBC and Sportsnet in Canada.
Article content
Saturday’s other game will be the New York Islanders taking on the Carolina Hurricanes at 5 p.m. in Raleigh, N.C.
The other Eastern Conference playoff matchups will start Sunday, with the Battle of Florida between the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning going at 12:30 p.m. and the New York Rangers playing Washington Capitals at 3 p.m. at Madison Square Garden.
With several Western Conference teams wrapping up their regular-season slates on Thursday, the remainder of the playoff schedule is yet to set.
Recommended from Editorial
The Maple Leafs also announced Thursday that the tailgate at Maple Leaf Square will open its gates at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Fans must register for a free mobile pass to be admitted to tailgates with passes available only on the Toronto Maple Leafs app and are non-transferable. Passes are available at 1 p.m. ET the day before each confirmed game with each fan permitted up to two passes per game.
Ahead of puck-drop, fans in the Square will be able to enjoy giveaways, special guests, a live DJ and more.
Share this article in your social network
Sports
How the NHL moved the Arizona Coyotes to Salt Lake City – Sportsnet.ca
* public_profileBlurb *
* public_name *
* public_gender *
* public_birthdate *
* public_emailAddress *
* public_address *
* public_phoneNumber *
-
Investment14 hours ago
UK Mulls New Curbs on Outbound Investment Over Security Risks – BNN Bloomberg
-
Sports12 hours ago
Auston Matthews denied 70th goal as depleted Leafs lose last regular-season game – Toronto Sun
-
Tech13 hours ago
Save $700 Off This 4K Projector at Amazon While You Still Can – CNET
-
Tech12 hours ago
'Kingdom Come: Deliverance II' Revealed In Epic New Trailer And It Looks Incredible – Forbes
-
Science14 hours ago
Jeremy Hansen – The Canadian Encyclopedia
-
Business11 hours ago
BC short-term rental rules take effect May 1 – CityNews Vancouver
-
Investment11 hours ago
Benjamin Bergen: Why would anyone invest in Canada now? – National Post
-
Art10 hours ago
Collection of First Nations art stolen from Gordon Head home – Times Colonist