Mikaela Shiffrin finished 2023 with an eye-catching performance even by her standards, winning a World Cup slalom race by a huge margin of 2.34 seconds on Friday for her 93rd career victory.
The American posted the fastest times by far in both runs on the Schlossberg course to finish ahead of runner-up Lena Duerr of Germany. Swiss skier Michelle Gisin was 0.11 further back in third.
“Today was a very special day for me. I felt perfect on the skis, so I’m super happy,” said Shiffrin, who also won Thursday’s giant slalom on the same hill. “It’s a very nice feeling right now.”
Friday’s result was the seventh-biggest winning margin ever in a women’s World Cup slalom. Shiffrin set four of those other marks, including the record of 3.07 seconds from a race in Aspen, Colorado, in November 2015.
WATCH | Shiffrin soars to victory:
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American Mikaela Shiffrin wins the women’s slalom in Lienz, Austria, a day after reaching the top of the podium in the giant slalom event for her record-extending 93rd World Cup victory of her career and fifth of this season.
Shiffrin’s main rival in slalom, Olympic champion Petra Vlhova, finished 3.24 seconds behind in fifth. The Slovakian had beaten Shiffrin in a night slalom in France last week.
Seeking a record-extending 56th career win from 107 starts in slalom, Shiffrin dominated the opening run and positioned herself for a second win in two days.
Shiffrin also carved out a big lead in Thursday’s GS, when she used a rather conservative second run to secure her record-extending 92nd career win. But there was no holding back in the afternoon this time, despite the packed schedule this week.
“It’s definitely a push today,” Shiffrin said after the first run. “I took the last four days of training and then straight to the race yesterday, and so I knew today would be six days in a row, it was going to be maybe a little bit tiring. But I wanted to feel comfortable with the skiing.”
Toronto’s Ali Nullmeyer was the top Canadian, placing 11th and 3.51 seconds behind Shiffrin. Amelia Smart of Invermere, B.C., finished 3.93 seconds behind the American to slot 14th.
The women’s World Cup continues with a GS and a slalom in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, on Jan. 6-7.