SESTRIERE, Italy (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin set up another history-making race in her storied career Sunday with the fastest time in the first run of a World Cup slalom.
Shiffrin took a 0.09 seconds lead over Zrinka Ljutic, a three-time winner this season, after new world champion Camille Rast crashed out three gates from the end when about to post a fast target.
The United States star was more at ease in her standout event after two days of cautious skiing in giant slalom. It was in a giant slalom in November that Shiffrin crashed and suffered a deep puncture wound in her abdomen.
Victory Sunday for Shiffrin would be a record-extending 100th win in the World Cup, and a record-extending 63rd in a single discipline.
Even a top-3 placing would be her 155th podium finish, tying the record of Ingemar Stenmark in the World Cup’s 68-year history.
The Swedish great’s record of 86 World Cup wins was broken by Shiffrin in March 2023, almost 34 years after his last win. Stenmark’s 86th win — a giant slalom at Aspen, Colorado in February 1989 — also was his 155th and last podium result.
Skiing Sunday through steady falling snow, Shiffrin was fastest through the bottom section to beat Ljutic’s target and be 0.34 faster than Katharina Liensberger in third place. Liensberger took bronze at the world championships last weekend.
Rast, the worlds gold medalist and World Cup standings leader in slalom, was first to start and seemed to straddle a gate within sight of the finish. She fell forward and slid on her back across the line.
Shiffrin’s United States teammate Paula Moltzan was fourth, with 0.38 to make up in the second run in the afternoon.
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