Advertisement

Mikaela Shiffrin earns historic 100th World Cup race win at slalom in Sestriere, Italy

No other skier, male or female, has reached triple-digit victories

ian casselberry
Contributing writer
·3-min read

Mikaela Shiffrin reached a historic milestone in Alpine skiing on Sunday, winning the 100th World Cup race of her career at the slalom event in Sestriere, Italy.

Shiffrin, 29, is the first skier — male or female — to achieve triple-digit victories in World Cup races. She beat Croatia's Zrinka Ljutic by 0.61 seconds, while USA's Paula Moltzan finished third.

Additionally, Shiffrin tied Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden for an all-time World Cup record with her 155th top-three finish. She surpassed Stenmark's record of 86 World Cup race wins in March 2023. Earlier that year, Shiffrin overtook Lindsey Vonn's record 82 World Cup victories for a female skier.

“Everybody’s been so nice and so supportive," Shiffrin said after the race. "All of my teammates and competitors and coaches and the whole World Cup and I’m so grateful, thank you. And the fans, thank you so much."

"I think it’s pretty special to share it with Paula, my teammate," she added. "I could hear everybody cheering from the start when she went and I thought, ‘OK, it’s like a day of training, it’s like we just keep pushing,’ and she pushes and I push and I made it achievable."

Shiffrin's historic win came nearly three months after she suffered a puncture wound in her left oblique resulting from a crash during a giant slalom race in Killington, Vermont.

Two weeks ago, Shiffrin withdrew from the World Alpine Skiing Championships in Saalbach, Austria, citing post-traumatic stress disorder from her November crash.

"Honestly, I really didn’t anticipate experiencing so much of this kind of mental/PTSD struggle in GS from my injury in Killington. Like always, I tried diving into the challenge, hoping to get there by Worlds," she posted on Instagram.

"I figured my passion and longing to compete would outweigh the mental barriers. Maybe that will be the case over time, but I’m not there yet," she added. "Coming to terms with how much fear I have doing an event that I loved so dearly only 2 months ago has been soul-crushing."

She appeared to still be battling the effects of her crash when she finished 33rd in the giant slalom race in Sestriere and failed to qualify for the second run. It was the first time in more than 12 years that she didn't qualify for the second run in a giant slalom or slalom event.

"I do not yet feel entirely myself… but I do feel enough of myself to be here," she posted on social media. "And for now, that is enough."

Competing in Sestriere turned out to be more than enough two days later when she achieved the history she was temporarily denied.