Magical victory beckons

Shiffrin honest: “Took so much energy”

Mikaela Shiffrin could celebrate her 100th career victory in her home country of all places.(Bild: GEPA)

After her slalom victory in Gurgl, the 99th win of her career, Mikaela Shiffrin can reach the magic 100-win mark in the Alpine Ski World Cup in the USA of all places. "It's not impossible, but so much has to go right," said Shiffrin on Saturday after her commanding success in the Tyrolean Ötztal.

The US-American delivers like a machine and yet emphasizes again and again that everything is not a sure-fire success. "I think from the outside it looks easy or it looks like it should happen that way, but even today it took so much energy to ski my best," said the 29-year-old.

Shiffrin has two chances to break the mark next week at her home race in Killington (Vermont) with the giant slalom (Saturday) and slalom (Sunday). She has already held the win record for some time. In the all-time leaderboard, Shiffrin is already well ahead of Ingemar Stenmark (86) and her compatriot Lindsey Vonn (82), who is planning to return to the circus this season despite a knee prosthesis.

Gurgl went down well with the ladies skiers
Shiffrin made friends with Gurgl straight away, although the surface initially reminded her of the devastating white of Beijing. The snow was as dry as in Beijing, when she experienced some of the darkest days of her career, said Shiffrin. However, she praised the challenging topography. "I really like the slope, it reminds me a bit of Schladming. The slope, the course, the crowd - it's wonderful to be here," said Shiffrin.

The beaten Austrians also agreed that the Kirchenkar slope is an enrichment for the Women's World Cup. "It's certainly one of the most difficult slalom slopes," said Katharina Liensberger after dropping from third to seventh place. "It's very challenging, but really cool. I really hope the race stays on the calendar," said Katharina Huber, who finished twelfth.

Katharina Liensberger(Bild: GEPA)

The ÖSV has recently been busy rebooking flights to the USA, as there is a lack of snow in Killington and no training facilities. The FIS snow inspection for the race course was positive. This means that only a short overseas trip from Thursday to Sunday is planned for the slalom skiers. The giant slalom skiers will then move to Mont-Tremblant (Quebec) for a Canadian double. But it was still green there recently.