Mikaela Shiffrin wins and enters the legend of skiing

After thirty-four years, Ingemar Stenmark he is no longer the only skier to have won 86 World Cups. A legendary record, established on 19 February 1989 by an “Ingo” now at the end of his career, a record passed through various eras of skiing, Tomba, Maier, Hirscher, Vonnhas now been joined by a woman. Mikaela Shiffrin, 27 years old, American, who has been working on this day for some time. To this victory number 86 in the giant slalom of Are, in Sweden, in which she outdid herself to beat an excellent Federico Brignone: the latest jewel, which does not close a cycle but opens another on the new horizons of a champion who can easily aspire to the hundredth success. Curiously, the 86th arrived at the same location where a 17-year-old then-student Shiffrin won her first race on December 20, 2012.

The American immediately made things clear in the short first heat (55 seconds), inflicting a 58 cents lead on the Canadian Valerie Grenier93 to the Austrian Franziska Gritsch and 1”04 to Federica Brignone. “I’m looking for the points to win the giant cup” exorcised the expectation Shiffrin, who had missed last weekend’s races to concentrate on the two-day Swedish race (already Saturday in slalom he can surpass the great Ingo at an altitude of 87). In the second he suffered the comeback of Brignone, immediately giving up three tenths, then another 17 cents, but in the final part he contained the exuberance of the blue, repeating the order of arrival of the Meribel World Championships (Shiffrin gold, Brignone silver) and obviously putting his hands on the specialty cup. In third place the Swedish Sara Hector a 0”92, 11a Martha Bassino.

Unlike the Swede who took the place of the Blue Avalanche of Thoeni e Gros, winning only in slalom and giant slalom, Mikaela Shiffrin has won everywhere, building her record from speed to technical specialties. Born in Vail, Colorado, raised at Burke Mountain Academy in Vermont, since her debut in 2011 she has conquered three downhills, three city events, two parallel slaloms, one combined, 5 super-G, 20 giant slaloms and 52 slaloms. An unstoppable march interrupted only between 2020 and 2021, due to the death of his father Jeff in a domestic accident. Since the Beijing Olympics without even a medal, Shiffrin has restarted stronger than before, strengthened by a now stable relationship with another ski champion, the Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Source.