Mikaela Shiffrin has done the unthinkable. The Team USA ski veteran is now a single win shy of hitting her FIS World Cup century and, oh boy, what a historic achievement would that be! While we wait for her to officially claim that crown till her next win, there’s one title we can already hand Shiffrin without a second thought. And that is of the undisputed slalom specialist.

The recent pitstop in Gurgl saw Mikaela Shiffrin bag her 99th win in a World Cup race, leaving the rising stars, Lara Colturi and Camille Rast in the dust. With this, Shiffrin has now ticked off the box of having won all 4 slaloms that she’s competed in since she made a comeback from her knee injury last season. But this sounds way simpler than it actually was for the skier.

Mikaela Shiffrin’s 99th win came at a lofty price

In a combined time of 1:40.22 seconds, Mikaela Shiffrin ensured she tasted victory at the Diamond of the Alps, which, by the way, marked the 154th time she’s ever graced an Alpine World Cup podium. However, the only thing unusual this time was how she felt the nerves.

Indeed, post-race, Mikaela Shiffrin confessed that she was under the pump all the way. “I was really nervous on the top. I could hear all the women going down and their teams were cheering and that always means they had a really good run. And it was getting darker and I was like ‘sh*t, I don’t think it’s happening today,” she opened up on how her mind was getting bothered by the surroundings.

It’s notable she now has 62 World Cup slalom wins in her name, a record number, as well as 21 victories from the 24 slalom races she’s had in Austria. This attests she’s neither new to the event nor the slope. But even with such extensive experience behind her, particularly in Slalom races, Shiffrin admitted she was getting the jitters minutes before the race, which is surprising.

This story is developing…