Mikaela Shiffrin of the Stifel US Alpine Ski Team ended the 2022/23 season in style, winning her 88th World Cup at the Giant Slalom World Cup Finals in Soldeu, Andorra. It was her 138th career podium and her 21st victory in giant slalom, breaking two women’s records. She also received her second giant slalom crystal globe of her career, making her the most successful female skier in the discipline, along with her fifth overall crystal globe, the greatest prize in ski racing.
Shiffrin skied to win, winning the first run by 0.62s and pulling off a smart second run to secure the win by 0.06s. It was her seventh giant slalom win of the season and her 21st World Cup win of her career – she broke Vreni Schneider’s record of 20 GS wins set by Shiffrin last week. The overall record is held by Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden, who has won 46 GS races during his time on the World Cup circuit.
“I was so nervous at the start,” Shiffrin laughed. “I think there is no reason. You want to do well and it doesn’t matter in terms of records – you just want to do well.”
The win extended Shiffrin’s overall record for World Cup wins to 88 and officially gave her the giant slalom globe she claimed last week with a record-breaking 86th win. She also received the FIS Total Crystal Globe after the race for a fifth time with a personal best of 2,206 World Cup points throughout the season, beating her record from 2018-19 when she won a historic 17 races. Tina Maze of Slovenia holds the record for more points in a single season with 2,414 from 2012-13. Shiffrin now has 15 Crystal Globes from 13 seasons – five overall and 10 discipline titles – including three from this season: overall, GS and slalom. This is Shiffrin’s second straight overall and she is one of only four skiers to have won the overall at least five times.
The result also boosted Shiffrin’s résumé to 138 World Cup podiums, breaking Lindsey Vonn’s record.
Norway’s Thea Louise Stjernesund was second on her first podium of her career and Valerie Grenier of Canada was third. Stifel US Alpine Ski Team skier Paula Moltzan finished 15th. Nina O’Brien did not finish her first run. Watch the race replay today, March 19, at 3:00 p.m. ET on CNBC.
No men from the Stifel US Alpine Ski Team competed in Sunday’s men’s slalom. Ramon Zenhaeusern of Switzerland took the win ahead of Lucas Braathen of Norway in second and Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway in third place. Braathen’s second place secured him the slalom world – a hard-fought title throughout the season. Marco Odermatt of Switzerland won the total ball.
RESULTS
Women’s giant slalom
Men’s slalom
LIKE WATCHING
Sunday March 19th
3:00 p.m. ET – Women’s Giant Slalom, CNBC*
*delayed broadcast
