ARE, Sweden (Reuters – Mikaela Shiffrin broke Ingemar Stenmark’s Alpine skiing World Cup podium record with her 156th top-three placing in a slalom on Swedish snow on Sunday as Austria’s Katharina Truppe celebrated her first victory.
Truppe led Katharina Liensberger in an Austrian one-two in Are with American Shiffrin third after skiing fastest in the first leg and looking good for a record-extending 101st career World Cup win.
Shiffrin went last in the second run and, with the piste rutted and bumpy, lost more than a second to Truppe to finish 0.19 adrift.
The American’s second-leg time was only the 25th fastest of the 30 runners.
“First victory, it’s crazy. I have goosebumps on my body,” said Truppe, who was sixth after the first run but beat Liensberger by 0.05 for her first victory in 186 starts.
The chase for the slalom crystal globe will go down to the final race of the season in Sun Valley, Idaho, on March 27 with Croatia’s Zrinka Ljutic 41 points clear of Switzerland’s Camille Rast.
Liensberger is third, 51 points off the lead, with Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener also in mathematical contention but 96 points behind Ljutic.
Swedish great Stenmark took his 155 World Cup podiums, including 86 wins, between 1974 and 1989.
Shiffrin broke Stenmark’s wins record in 2023 after surpassing compatriot Lindsey Vonn’s female best of 82 victories in January of that year.
Shiffrin, who will be 30 on Thursday, celebrated her 100th World Cup win in Sestriere, Italy, last month. She is not in the running for the slalom World Cup title after two months out recovering from a giant slalom fall in November.
Source: CNA
