ZAGREB (Reuters) – American Mikaela Shiffrin won the first of two slalom night races in Zagreb on Wednesday to move within one victory of equalling compatriot Lindsey Vonn’s women’s World Cup record.
Shiffrin finished 0.76 seconds ahead of Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova to collect her 81st World Cup triumph in 1:36.42.
The three-times Olympic medallist will have the chance to equal Vonn’s record on Thursday under the lights once again.
“I’m incredibly happy, I had so much fun skiing today and it was my best skiing both runs,” Shiffrin told FIS TV.
“Nothing less than the best is going to work and I was taking all the risk I needed. It’s an amazing feeling when it’s good enough.”
Shiffrin lies third on the all-time list for the most World Cup wins, behind Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark (86) and Vonn.
She tops the overall World Cup standings with 975 points, a massive 389 ahead of Vlhova. In the slalom standings, Shiffrin (525) leads Wendy Holdener by 105 points.
Shiffrin is seeking a fifth overall crown which would put her second on the all-time list behind Austria’s Annemarie Moser-Proll who has six titles to her name.
(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
