SPINDLERUV MLYN, Czech Republic (AP) — American skier Mikaela Shiffrin posted the fastest time in the opening women’s World Cup slalom race on Saturday, setting her up for the 85th victory of her career.
If Shiffrin wins the race, he would move within the World Cup record of 86 wins set by the great Swede Ingemar Stenmark in the 1980s.
Shiffrin had shared the women’s record 82 wins with former teammate Lindsey Vonn before triumphing in back-to-back giant slalom in Italy this week.
On Saturday, the American was 0.29 seconds faster than Lena Dürr of Germany, with Olympic slalom champion Petra Vlhová of Slovakia placing third by 0.46 seconds.
“In the end, good skiing and I’m happy with that,” Shiffrin said.
The rest of the field was more than a second off the pace. The lower ranked skiers kept coming down the slope.
Competing at the resort where she made her World Cup debut as a 15-year-old nearly 12 years ago, Shiffrin got off to a fast start and already led her competitors by at least a quarter of a second at the first interval.
He also gained time on most of the runners in a tricky passage midway through his race, where the established course allowed several ways to get through the gates.
“You can ski either way,” Shiffrin said. “I was really able to carry a lot of speed at the end of the course. In the end, I felt very good about my career.”
The American has won four of the seven slaloms this season and is chasing her 11th victory of the season.
Only twice in his career has he won more than 11 races in a single season: 12 in 2017-18 and a record 17 in 2018-19.
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