Ski star Mikaela Shiffrin has added yet another chapter to her book of World Cup records by becoming the first to reach the milestone of 100 career wins.
Less than 14 years after her debut race as a 16-year-old in March 2011, the American won a slalom in Italy on Sunday to get her tally of victories to three digits.
No other skier, male or female, has ever won more than 86 races.
Shiffrin has racked up 63 wins in slalom, 22 in giant slaloms, 5 in super-G, 4 in downhill, 1 in Alpine combined and 5 in parallel races.
The two-time Olympic champion completed her century of World Cup victories in 278 starts for a whopping win rate of 36%.
“I wasn’t planning to win”
Here is a look at 10 of Shiffrin’s most notable World Cup victories.
— No. 1: Slalom in Are, Sweden on Dec. 12, 2012
In her 24th World Cup start and early in her first full season on the circuit, Shiffrin lands her maiden victory in a night race. At 17, she becomes the second-youngest American ever to win a World Cup race, after Judy Nagel.
— No. 4: Slalom in Lenzerheide, Switzerland on March 16, 2013
Making up a big opening-run deficit of 1.17 seconds for a come-from-behind win in the season-ending slalom sees Shiffrin edge out overall champion Tina Maze in the final slalom standings. Shiffrin gets her first crystal globe, a day after her 18th birthday.
— No. 16: Slalom in Aspen, Colorado on Nov. 28, 2015
Shiffrin crushes the field to win a race in her native Colorado by 3.07 seconds, still the biggest-ever winning margin in a women’s World Cup slalom. “I don’t know if the stars will ever align like that again,” she says. They almost do the next day, when Shiffrin wins another slalom by 2.65 seconds.
— Nos. 24-26: Two giant slaloms, one slalom in Semmering, Austria on Dec. 27-29, 2016
Three races on three consecutive days between Christmas and New Year — and Shiffrin wins them all. This achievement, though, is not a one-off. When the Austrian resort hosts three races in three days again in 2022, Shiffrin just does it all again.
— No. 33: Downhill in Lake Louise, Alberta on Dec. 2, 2017
After starting as a tech specialist, Shiffrin ventures into speed events in late 2016 on the way to her first overall title. In only her third downhill start a year later, she gets her first podium, only to back it up with her maiden downhill victory the next day. “I wasn’t planning to win,” she says, just “do my best and see what happened.”
“It’s not over yet, which is even more ridiculous”
— No. 46: Super-G in Lake Louise on Dec. 2, 2018
A year to the day after her first downhill triumph, Shiffrin wins a super-G and becomes the only skier, male or female, with wins in all six Alpine disciplines. Shiffrin goes on to win 17 races that season; no other skier has ever won more than 14 in a single World Cup campaign.
— No. 67: Giant slalom in Courchevel, France on Dec. 14, 2020
What might seem like just another GS win is one of her most meaningful victories — the first since the death of her father, Jeff Shiffrin, 10 months earlier. “I definitely didn’t ski alone today. I had a lot of strength from a lot of people. It’s a bit bittersweet,” Shiffrin says after the race.
— No. 73: Slalom in Schladming, Austria on Jan. 11, 2022
Beating her long-term rival Petra Vlhova, Shiffrin adds slalom victory No. 47 to her tally, more than any other skier, male or female, has ever won in a single discipline. The previous best mark — 46 GS wins by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark — stood for 33 years.
— No. 87: Slalom in Are on March 11, 2023
Less than seven weeks after overtaking Lindsey Vonn as the winningest female ski racer with her career win 83, Shiffrin sets the outright record. The best mark of 86 wins seemed unbeatable when Stenmark set it 34 years earlier, but Shiffrin gets win No. 87 — in a race held in Stenmark’s home country. “It’s pretty hard to describe — and it’s not over yet, which is even more ridiculous,” Shiffrin says.
— No. 100: Slalom in Sestriere, Italy on Feb. 23, 2025
Even before Shiffrin was to beat his record of 86 wins, Stenmark predicted in an AP interview in early 2023 that the American “can win more than 100.” Two years later, Shiffrin reaches the milestone in what is her first World Cup victory after a two-month injury break. She sustained an abdominal injury in a GS crash at her home race in Killington, Vermont in November, when she led in the second run and seemed on course for win No. 100.
Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.
Originally Published:
