On Thursday, February 16, alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin made history again after winning the Giant Slalom event at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2023. With her latest win, Shiffrin broke another modern record and became the second-most successful individual skier at Worlds. With 13 medals from 16 starts, only German skier Christl Cranz has won more than Shiffrin. Cranz leads the all-time list with 15 medals. After the Olympian’s latest win, another alpine skiing legend, Lindsey Vonn, congratulated her on Twitter.
Vonn couldn’t help but praise Shiffrin as she inches closer to breaking the ultimate record of Ingemar Stenmark’s 86 world cup victories. Last month Shiffrin surpassed Vonn’s record 82 world cup wins record.
Lindsey Vonn is having a hard time keeping track of Mikaela Shiffrin’s achievements
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After missing gold by a margin of 0.11 seconds at the Women’s Super-G last week, Shiffrin clinched gold at the Giant Slalom on Thursday. The American entered the second descent with a 0.31-second advantage. In the initial stage of the descent at the Roc De Fer course, Shiffrin increased her lead to 0.63 seconds.
However, she lost time in the comparatively flatter middle section of the course. In the final stage, she lost more time, giving her rival Federica Brignone a chance to catch up. As the crowd held their breath, Mikaela Shiffrin crossed the finish line a mere 0.12 seconds ahead of the Italian skier. After the race, an exhausted but victorious Shiffrin collapsed on the slow with joy and relief.
Congrats @mikaelashiffrin 👏🏻👏🏻💪🏻🇺🇸 hard to keep track of all these W’s! https://t.co/Wmay4Sr88r
— lindsey vonn (@lindseyvonn) February 16, 2023
The American skier talked to the press after her historic 2-minute 17.3-second race. “It was very, very difficult today to keep the focus and keep the intensity on the right level,” Shiffrin said. Three-time Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn applauded her fellow American skier. “Congrats @mikaelashiffrin hard to keep track of all these W’s!” Vonn wrote on Twitter. Vonn has also praised Shiffrin in the past.
Shiffrin thanks her Coach
While speaking to the press after the race, the two-time Olympic gold medalist thanked her former coach Mike Day. He departed a day before her Giant Slalom win. Earlier, the Olympian had informed her coach that she wanted to take a new direction after the end of the 2023 season. Despite the duo parting way, Shiffrin thanked her coach.
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Mikaela Shiffrin capped a hectic week at the skiing world championships with a gold in giant slalom then thanked her longtime coach who left her two days ago. https://t.co/pD93PL566i pic.twitter.com/hweAKkQKU0
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 16, 2023
The alpine skiing star got emotional while talking about her coach since 2016. “One thing I really want to say is just, ‘Thank you,’ to Mike for seven years of — I can’t even say helping me — he’s been such an integral part of my team,” she told the press.
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What do you think about Mikaela Shiffrin’s impressive victory? Let us know in the comments.