(St. Moritz) Five wins from legend. American alpine ski star Mikaela Shiffrin won her 77e World Cup victory in the super-G of Saint-Moritz (Switzerland) on Sunday, approaching the record set by compatriot Lindsey Vonn (82).
Three years after the retirement of Vonn, dominant in speed events (downhill, super-G) it is another American, specialist in technical events (slalom, giant), who could seize the reference mark.
It is moreover in an old favorite discipline of Vonn that Shiffrin took another step in the history of alpine skiing. Olympic champion in giant (2018) and slalom (2014), the 27-year-old skier has returned to success in super-G, two years after her last victory in the discipline, confirming her great versatility.
It is already his third of the season after the two slaloms of Levi (Finland).
If she equals or exceeds Vonn’s record, Shiffrin will be able to tackle another benchmark: the 86 World Cup victories of Swede Ingemar Stenmark.
In the Swiss Alps, the skier from Colorado was 12 hundredths of a second ahead of the Italian Elena Curtoni, winner of the first descent on Friday on the Swiss track, and 40 hundredths Miradoli, who climbed for the third time on a Cup podium. of the world.
The American was making her return to speed events this weekend in Saint-Moritz, and was putting on downhill skis, which she had not put on all summer.
“It had been quite a while since I had put on the downhill skis, in April, but what a pleasure to find them today,” the American posted on her networks on Wednesday, explaining that she was “looking forward to being in the race”.
Curtoni still performing
His performance on Saturday in the downhill was already encouraging. She finished fourth, after a race dominated by Italian Sofia Goggia, fifth in the super-G.
Sunday, after a good first part of the race, Shiffrin built her success in the second half of the course, after starting in seventh position.
Curtoni and the Romane Miradoli then took time from him in the second sector (out of four in total), but could not match his performance in the second part of the course.
Curtoni ended his superb weekend in fine style, however, after a victory before the fog fell on the Swiss track on Friday. Victorious in her only World Cup race in the super-G of Lenzerheide last March, Miradoli confirms her good dispositions in the Swiss Alps.
Holder of the title of the big crystal globe, Shiffrin still leads the general classification of the World Cup this season (575 points) ahead of Goggia (470) and the Swiss Wendy Holdener (376). Barring injury, she will still be the favorite at the Alpine Skiing World Championships in Courchevel-Méribel (February 5-19, 2023).
She will still have the opportunity to increase her lead in nine days in Semmering (Austria), where two giants will be held – including that of Sölden, rescheduled due to bad weather conditions – and a slalom (December 27-29).