Mikaela Shiffrin won her 48th World Cup slalom event in Levi today. On the "Black Levi" track in Finnish Lapland, Shiffrin turned the tables after finishing third in the first run with the fastest time in the second run. She has won five times in Levi (2013, 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2022) and finished on the podium ten times (5 - 4 -1). Shiffrin only finished out of the podium two times. She ended in the 11th position in 2014, and 5th in 2020.
Mikaela Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova have won every women’s Alpine Ski World Cup race in Levi dating back to 2015.
Shiffrin was happy about her first slalom victory since her victory in Schladming in January. "The first run was solid but I had skied with too much respect. Then I changed something with the team and that went well. It wasn't perfect, but I didn't make any big mistakes either. This is a perfect way to start the season", said the american.
The 27-year-old ski star now holds the record for the most women's World Cup podiums in a single discipline with 67 surpassing Lindsey Vonn (66 downhill).
Shiffrin has won 75 World Cup events, ranking her third all-time behind Ingemar Stenmark (86) and Lindsey Vonn (82).
Mikaela Shiffrin now is tied with Vreni Schneider (1984-1985 to 1994-1995) and Renate Götschl (1996-1997 to 2006-2007) for the women's record of winning at least one World Cup event in 11 successive seasons.
Anna Swenn-Larsson finished in second place 0.16 seconds behind Shiffrin and claimed her sixth World Cup podium in Slalom. Having been suffered several injuries and Covid-19 setbacks over previous seasons, she was overjoyed with her performance.
“It was very nice to be racing again. It is always a pleasure to be back at Levi. I'm super happy, it's the perfect start to the season. Tomorrow I will try to be a bit more aggressive and see what happens", said the Swede.
Petra Vlhova finished in third place (+0.20). The Slovak finished on the podium a total of eight times in Levi (5 - 1- 2). She only finished out of the podium two times (2013 DNQ1 and 2019 DNF2).
“It was difficult, and in some parts of the pitch I could have been better. But it was a good fight, and I’m looking forward to try again tomorrow. Finally we can kick off the season and enjoy it. I will try to do everything tomorrow to take a sixth win in Levi”, Vlhova said.
The big loser of the day was the German Lena Dürr, who had led a first run for the fourth time in a row, including the Olympics, but in the second run with only the 14th best time finished in fourth place (+0, 75) out of the podium.
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