Shiffrin wins 86th World Cup title to equal Stenmark and seal legend

After standing with her head in her hands at the end of her victorious giant slalom run in Are, having finally reached the landmark that has been hovering in sight for so long, Mikaela Shiffrin eventually concluded that it had been: “a wild day. I can’t believe that all of that happened.”

Shiffrin had entered the start gate in Are, Sweden, on Friday with the key target of clinching the GS crystal globe. But Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI), the only athlete close to Shiffrin in that tussle, missed a gate early on run one. This granted the American that initial prize, removing some pressure immediately.

Relaxed on an icy piste, the American showed all the genius, guile and grit that has guided her since her breakthrough as an electric teenage debutant.

She was imperious on the first run and utterly controlled on the second, finishing +0.64 ahead of Federica Brignone (ITA). Ingemar Stenmark’s stellar tally of 86 FIS Alpine World Cup race victories had been matched.

“This is just a spectacular day, oh my goodness," said Shiffrin. "If you’d asked me, ‘would you prefer to get this [86th] victory, or to win the globe? You get one, but you don’t get both’. I would choose the globe today.

"At the start and I knew I had won the GS globe before I raced [after Gut-Behrami skied out].

"I thought ‘now I can take more risks and push a bit harder’. I got thrown around, but I tried to earn the victory as best I could.” Earn it she did.

It was always going to be a case of when and where, rather than if, Shiffrin would grab victory number 86. Perhaps fittingly, she did it in the great man Stenmark’s homeland, Sweden, and in Are, the venue where she put herself on the map, just over 11 years ago, with her first slalom gold.

“It’s a little too much to comprehend,” she said. “It’s a pretty spectacular position to be in. I don’t take it for granted, to be in this position where people are asking me about when I’m going to win 86 or 87. It’s a cool place to be, even though it can be difficult to focus sometimes.

“But today I felt like the focus was there when I needed it to be, so it was fun to ski, and that was how I hoped it would be.

“I’m always afraid I’m going to lose the lead, so when I saw the green light, I thought, that’s really exciting.

“Now everyone is going to ask about 87, and I’ll say ‘argh’.”

Shiffrin also sent a message to Stenmark, who was pictured watching her moment. “I think now we will send some messages back and forth,” she said. “No matter what I do, it doesn’t compare to what you achieved.

“Maybe I get the 87th victory, maybe not, but for me the biggest dream is to be mentioned in the same sentence as you. It’s pretty special – who you are, who you were as a ski racer, what you achieved as a human. That’s the most inspiring thing. You may not want attention, but you still get it.”

A huge number of Shiffrin’s races are edge-of-the-seat dramas. This crucial fixture, however, was as near to a parade as it could have been.

Those in closest contention to her capitulated on run two: Franziska Gritsch (AUT), lying third, crashed out, while Valerie Grenier (CAN), in second, somehow recovered from sliding near-horizontally round a mid-course gate, but lost a crucial chunk of time.

Only Federica Brignone (ITA) was as bold as Shiffrin on run two, but had left herself too much to do, and finished second (+0.64).

All that was left for the Italian was to salute her rival. “Mikaela is skiing so great, she deserved another win,” she said. “She is amazing. She is attacking, her technique is just perfect. What more can I say?

“I was really attacking and risking a lot. The goal was to try to catch Mikaela and I tried my best. I am happy because I’m again second, again on the podium. I know I can ski good for the [World Cup] finals, and play the game in the super-G and GS. I’m really excited.”

Sara Hector (SWE) delighted the home crowds, meanwhile, with a bustling pair of runs to get bronze (+0.92).

“It was really fun to race, and such a great feeling to do this at home in Sweden,” she said. “Last year I lost the globe here, so I thought I would get something, and it turned out good.

“I have so much history on this slope. I took my first podium ever here, my first World Cup, my first bad injury. My best and worst are here.”

The day however, was Shiffrin’s, and left the legendary Hermann Maier saying: “it’s just a number today. I am sure she will end up with a three figure total.”

Shiffrin’s sixth GS win from nine races this season also equalled another record: this was her 20th giant slalom title, putting her level on GS World Cup titles with Vreni Schneider (SUI).

The victory meanwhile pushed her up to 1928 points overall, putting the 2000 point single-season barrier in sight (only previously beaten by Maier and Tina Maze).

Shiffrin will now try to claim the World Cup wins record outright in the slalom on Saturday, before heading to the World Cup Finals in Soldeu, Austria, next week.