Shiffrin gets out of the gate early with 98th World Cup win

LEVI, Finland — American ski star Mikaela Shiffrin earned her record-extending 98th career World Cup win on Saturday to give herself the chance to compete for victory No 100 in front of a home crowd.

Regardless of her result in a slalom in Austria next week, Shiffrin could reach the milestone in two races in Killington, Vermont, on Nov 30 and Dec 1, respectively.

The two-time Olympic champion, who is from Colorado, can almost consider Killington a hometown race, because she honed her skills nearby at the Burke Mountain Academy as a teenager.

On Saturday, Shiffrin dominated the first women's World Cup slalom of the season for her 98th win. No other skier, male of female, has won more than 86 races.

"Amazing way to start the slalom season, I'm super happy," the American said.

Shiffrin built on a big first-run lead with an aggressive, yet controlled, second run down the Levi Black course to beat 2021 slalom world champion Katharina Liensberger of Austria by 0.79 seconds.

Lena Durr of Germany dropped from second to third, 0.83 behind Shiffrin, and was the last skier to finish less than a second off the lead.

Croatian prodigy Zrinka Ljutic, who was third after the opening run, lost three spots.

Olympic champion Petra Vlhova, Shiffrin's biggest rival in slalom, sat out the race as the Slovakian needed more time to recover from last season's knee surgery.

Shiffrin also led the season-opening giant slalom in Austria three weeks ago, but squandered that advantage in the second run to finish fifth.

On Saturday, Shiffrin initially extended her lead to a massive 1.25 seconds early in her final run before losing a few tenths.

"I was getting twisted sometimes, but then kept fighting. Not the perfect tempo, but enough really good turns that it worked really well. In the end, a really solid run in conditions that were not so easy," she said.

"From this weekend, I am racing every single weekend until the world championships (in February), for sure. So, it's going to be a really big push now, and I was a little bit off on my mentality in Solden, so hopefully I can bring the GS under control. But, it was very important to start with a good place in slalom."

Shiffrin has triumphed in the last five slaloms she competed in. She won both races at the end of last season after her return from a knee injury following a downhill crash in January, clinching her eighth World Cup season title in the discipline.

Shiffrin has triumphed a record eight times in the traditional season-opening slalom in Finnish Lapland, where the winner is given a reindeer as a prize.

No skier other than Shiffrin or Vlhova has won the race since 2014, when then overall champion Tina Maze triumphed.

Asked about a name for her reindeer, Shiffrin said she would "check with the team and my teammates and see what everybody says".

Shiffrin positioned herself for victory with a convincing opening run, in which she posted the fastest split times in three of the four sections.

"I felt strong and solid, and a good energy. Little bit nervous, it's the first race, first slalom of the season, so I'm happy with how I managed the mentality and pushed with my skiing," she said.

Lindsey Vonn, who this week announced her return to the US ski team more than five years after her retirement, was expected to start racing again at speed events later this season.

A men's slalom on the same hill is scheduled for Sunday. The women's World Cup is set to continue with another slalom in Gurgl, Austria, on Saturday.

Agencies via Xinhua