American ski star Mikaela Shiffrin dominated the first women’s World Cup slalom of the season Saturday for her record-extending 98th career win.
Shiffrin built on a big first-run lead with an aggressive yet controlled second run down the Levi Black course to beat 2021 slalom world champion Katharina Liensberger of Austria by 0.79 seconds.
Lena Duerr of Germany dropped from second to third, 0.83 behind Shiffrin, and was the last skier to finish less than a second off the lead.
“Amazing way to start the slalom season, I’m super happy,” Shiffrin said.
The two-time Olympic champion also led the season-opening giant slalom in Austria three weeks ago, but squandered that advantage in the second run to finish fifth.
On Saturday, Shiffrin initially extended her lead to a massive 1.25 seconds early in her final run before losing a few tenth.
“I was getting twisted sometimes, but then keep fighting. Not the perfect tempo, but enough really good turns that it works really well. In the end, a really solid run in conditions not so easy,” she said.
