Another Mikaela Shiffrin record: I was nervous today too

This is Mikaela Shiffrin’s seventh giant slalom victory of the season, which is a record, and the American also secured the already record 21st career giant slalom victory. She previously shared the milestone with Vreni Schneider. The total counter of her victories stopped at the end of the 2022/23 season at the number 88. Ana Bucik won the 23rd place. Soldeu did not bring her success after she retired in the slalom on Saturday.

Finally a vacation, but it won’t last long“It’s been an amazing and emotional season for me. After the 87th victory (thus breaking Stenmark’s record; op. a.), which was a special privilege, I thought there would be no more pressure, but I was still nervous and excited today. It’s the best feeling. Records otherwise they don’t mean that much to me, I always just want to ski the best. Now I have a few more commitments and then the holidays. I’m tired from all the traveling and I’m really looking forward to spending some free time with my family. It will all pass quickly and then I will have to go to Europe again to prepare for the new season,” said Mikaela Shiffrin.

It worked out for only six hundred centsThe 28-year-old skiing superstar, who has already secured the giant slalom globe (and of course the big crystal one – in the end her advantage is almost a thousand points!), opened the race, and the closest to her result was Canadian Valerie Grenier, who was behind by 62 cents. In the end, the Canadian was third in her 100th World Cup match, and the Norwegian Thea Louise Strejnesund rose to second place (from fifth). She was only six hundredths short of victory!

Three resignations in the elite sevenAmong the elite seven, the dropout on the first track was surprisingly high, as three skiers resigned: Saturday’s slalom winner Petra Vlhova (she still retained third place in the World Cup overall), Federica Brignone and Sara Hector. The conditions for the competition were otherwise favorable, the weather was sunny again, and the snow surface was hardened with salt, as it had been all week in Soldeu.

Ana Bucik’s two zeroes to end an otherwise good seasonAni Bucik’s first performance went quite well, although it was not without mistakes. In the final, she was already in the red zone in the intermediate times, but she probably would have managed to get 15th if she hadn’t gone far outside the ideal skiing direction in the steep lower part. With a lag of 3.58 seconds, she was left without points, which only the first 15 female skiers get in the final.

She wanted to be more aggressive on the slope“It seemed to me that I didn’t have the best start. In the meantime, I caught a rhythm and skied better and better. I left a little too much time on the slope in the first run, so I wanted to be a little more aggressive. Unfortunately, it turned a little on one turn there. And then this classic of mine, when I get out of trouble, unfortunately I tend to lean in a little. Alas, I will say, a pretty miserable second run both yesterday and today, but I can’t let that affect how I feel about the whole season,” she told Val 202.

Končni vrstni red:                    
 1. M. SHIFFRIN         ZDA    1:55,88
 2. T. L. STJERNESUND   NOR      +0,06
 3. V. GRENIER          KAN       0,20
 4. L. GUT BEHRAMI      ŠVI       0,46
 5. M. F. HOLTMANN      NOR       0,64
 6. M. BASSINO          ITA       0,69
 7. A. ROBINSON         NZL       0,77
 8. M. GASIENCIA DANIEL POL       0,85
 9. R. MOWINCKEL        NOR       1,08
10. M. T. TVIBERG       NOR       1,20
11. T. WORLEY           FRA       1,21
12. F. GRITSCH          AVT       1,25
13. R. HAASER           AVT       1,34
...                                   
23. A. BUCIK            SLO       3,58

Prva proga, izidi:                    
 1. M. SHIFFRIN         ZDA      56,60
 2. V. GRENIER          KAN      +0,62
 3. M. BASSINO          ITA       0,63
 4. M. GASIENCIA DANIEL POL       0,65
 5. T. L. STJERNESUND   NOR       0,71
 6. L. GUT BEHRAMI      ŠVI       0,80
 7. T. WORLEY           FRA       1,05
 8. R. HAASER           AVT       1,20
 9. A. BUCIK            SLO       1,27
10. R. MOWINCKEL        NOR       1,36
11. P. MOLTZAN          ZDA       1,38
12. M. F. HOLTMANN      NOR       1,42
13. W. HOLDENER         ŠVI       1,51
14. A. ROBINSON         NZL       1,59
15. F. GRITSCH          AVT       1,93

Svetovni pokal skupno (38/38):               
  1. M. SHIFFRIN        ZDA        2206
  2. L. GUT-BEHRAMI     ŠVI        1217
  3. P. VLHOVA          SLK        1125
  4. F. BRIGNONE        ITA        1069
  5. S. GOGGIA          ITA         916
  6. R. MOWINCKEL       NOR         903
  7. W. HOLDENER        ŠVI         858
  8. M. BASSINO         ITA         749
  9. E. CURTONI         ITA         666
 10. S. HECTOR          ŠVE         636
 11. I. ŠTUHEC          SLO         602
 ...                                   
 21. A. BUCIK           SLO         405
 61. N. DVORNIK         SLO          86
121. T. ROBNIK          SLO           2

Veleslalom (10/10):                    
 1. M. SHIFFRIN         ZDA         800
 2. L. GUT-BEHRAMI      ŠVI         532
 3. M. BASSINO          ITA         515
 4. P. VLHOVA           SLK         486
 5. F. BRIGNONE         ITA         476
 6. S. HECTOR           ŠVE         393
 7. V. GRENIER          KAN         354
 8. T. WORLEY           FRA         328
 9. R. MOWINCKEL        NOR         311
10. T. L. STJERNESUND   NOR         236
...                                    
14. A. BUCIK            SLO         146
38. N. DVORNIK          SLO          22
49. T. ROBNIK           SLO           2