Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin set the U.S. record on Monday for most career slalom wins, cementing her place as one of the world鈥檚 greatest alpine skiers. The 19-year-old racked up the 10th slalom victory of her young career at the FIS World Cup race at Kuehtai in Tirol, Austria.
Tamara McKinney and Phil Mahre held the previous records for women and men, respectively, each winning nine slaloms in the 1980s. Marlies Schild of Austria, who retired in early 2014, holds the record for the woman with the most World Cup slalom wins, totaling 35, .
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 thinking about that today,鈥 Shiffrin . 鈥淪omebody mentioned it, and I was like, 鈥楬a, that is very cool.鈥 I had no idea.鈥
Shiffrin was fastest in both runs of the weekend, posting an aggregate time of 1:43.39 and staving off second-place Sarka Strachova of the Czech Republic. Strachova finished 0.80 seconds behind Shiffrin. Wendy Holdener of Switzerland rounded out the podium at 0.92 seconds behind.
The first-place finish could mark a turning point in Shiffrin鈥檚 season. After winning the season-opening giant slalom in October, she went three slalom races without reaching the podium. Tweaking her setup seems to have helped, as she also took third in the giant slalom on Sunday. Shiffrin now sits at third in the World Cup standings.
鈥淢y skis and boots are working great, and I was ready for it,鈥 Shiffrin said, . 鈥淥verall it鈥檚 a great weekend with two podiums. I feel like I am getting my slalom back, so I鈥檓 really excited. However, it鈥檚 not necessarily the best projector of what the next races will be. So I have to keep working.鈥
The World Cup tour opens the new year in Zagreb, Croatia, with races on January 4.