Levi (Finland) (AFP) – American ski queen Mikaela Shiffrin laid down a marker to potential challengers this season with a crushing 102nd World Cup win in the opening slalom of the year at Levi in Finland on Saturday. The 30-year-old, who missed much of last year due to serious injury before coming back to clinch her 100th World Cup victory, set up her win with a stunning opening run. Going out third, she finished over a second ahead of her nearest challenger. She wrapped up victory with a second devastating run to clock a total of 1 minute 48.92 seconds.
Shiffrin was the quickest on both runs and finished 1.66 seconds ahead of Lara Colturi on her 19th birthday, with the German Emma Aicher, 22, coming strong in the second run to claim her first World Cup slalom podium. It marked a 65th slalom win for Shiffrin and showed definitively that she is over last season’s horrific injury. “Well, I have trusted the training I did with my team and we did really good work over the summer,” she said. “So the final step was mentality and pushing, and it was really nice to race today.”
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After posting her ninth victory in Levi, her record number of victories on a single slope, she admitted that she enjoyed racing in Lapland. “(It’s) starting to feel a little more like home,” she said. “I really enjoyed being here and I’m so happy to kick off this long season.” At the end of October, in the opening giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, the American took a promising fourth place, but her victory in Finland lifts her to the top of the nascent overall standings where she leads compatriot Paula Moltzan by 20 points.
“This season, it was very important for me to get off to a good start because I was injured for a long time last year, so mentally it was important to get off to a good start,” she added. “Right now, I’m very happy with the first two races of the winter.” Such a strong start is also a warning to her rivals that Shiffrin has the Winter Olympics, which take place in February, firmly in her sights, even if she said at the start of the season that she would take the winter “step by step.” The next women’s slalom will be in Gurgl, Austria in just over a week. On Sunday, the men will take on the Levi slalom track.
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