Mikaela Shiffrin clinches record ninth slalom title with dominant World Cup win

SPINDLERUV MLYN, Czech Republic (JN) – Mikaela Shiffrin delivered a commanding victory in the final women’s slalom before the Milan–Cortina Winter Olympics, securing the discipline’s season title with two races still to run and extending her place in Alpine skiing history.

Racing in Spindleruv Mlyn, the Czech Republic, the American won both runs to comfortably defeat Switzerland’s Camille Rast, the reigning world champion, and ensure she cannot be caught in the slalom standings. The result gives Shiffrin a record ninth World Cup season title in a single discipline, a milestone unmatched in the competition’s six-decade history.

The win capped a weekend that underscored Shiffrin’s return to consistency in the technical events, while also highlighting her cautious, measured approach as she prepares for another Olympic campaign.

A record sealed with races to spare

Shiffrin’s victory margin of 1.67 seconds over Rast was emphatic by World Cup standards, with Germany’s Emma Aicher leading the rest of the field more than two seconds adrift. The result left Shiffrin with an unassailable 288-point lead over Rast, having won seven of the eight slaloms staged this season.

Only one slalom escaped her this winter, when Rast took victory in Slovenia three weeks ago. With two slalom races still scheduled after the Olympics, Shiffrin has already secured the discipline globe, as each race win is worth a maximum of 100 points.

The achievement places Shiffrin alone atop the World Cup record books. On the men’s side, Ingemar Stenmark won eight slalom titles during his career, while Marcel Hirscher claimed eight overall crowns. Shiffrin has now surpassed those benchmarks within a single discipline.

Measured expectations ahead of the Olympics

Despite her form, Shiffrin was careful not to draw direct conclusions about the upcoming Olympic Games, where she plans to compete in slalom, giant slalom and the team combined.

“The Olympics is a totally different challenge,” Shiffrin said, reflecting on a career that has included both triumph and disappointment on the sport’s biggest stage. She won Olympic gold in slalom at Sochi in 2014 and giant slalom at PyeongChang in 2018, but did not finish any of her technical events at the Beijing Games in 2022.

She stressed the importance of perspective and preparation over results. Entering the Games with confidence, she said, matters less than maintaining trust in her team and approach, particularly in an Olympic environment that can amplify pressure and unpredictability.

Momentum built on patience and recovery

Shiffrin’s slalom win followed her first giant slalom podium finish in two years, achieved the previous day. The result marked another step in her recovery from a crash last season that sidelined her for two months and ultimately cost her the slalom title, which was claimed by Croatia’s Zrinka Ljutic.

While the podium suggested renewed competitiveness across disciplines, Shiffrin emphasized that progress in giant slalom remains a longer-term process. She has repeatedly described GS as an area where she sees room for further growth, in contrast to slalom, where she believes she is operating close to her personal performance ceiling.

That internal motivation, rather than records alone, continues to drive her, particularly as she balances technical refinement with the physical demands of the modern World Cup circuit.

A return to where it began

The Czech venue carried personal significance for Shiffrin. Spindleruv Mlyn hosted her World Cup debut in March 2011, when she was just 15 years old. Returning to the slope more than a decade later, she reflected on the enduring simplicity of her connection to the sport.

Clinching another slalom globe was not at the forefront of her thoughts during the race itself, she said, noting the intense focus required on a technically demanding course. Only afterward did the scale of the achievement fully register, turning the record into what she described as a welcome surprise.

Shiffrin won her first slalom season title in 2013 at the age of 18. Her latest crown comes two years after her previous one, extending a career that has redefined longevity and consistency at the top level.

Numbers that underline dominance

The statistics behind Shiffrin’s career continue to set her apart. She now holds 71 career World Cup victories in slalom and 108 wins overall, both all-time records across men’s and women’s competition.

Her nearest challenger this season, Rast, remains the only skier to beat her in slalom, while the rest of the field has struggled to match her combination of precision, speed and tactical control on turning courses.

The women’s World Cup now moves to Crans-Montana, Switzerland, for a downhill and super-G next weekend, the final races before the Olympic break. Those speed events will offer a different test, but Shiffrin’s slalom season is already settled.

As the Olympics approach, her latest milestone serves less as a conclusion than as another chapter in a career defined by sustained excellence and careful, deliberate progress.