Killington (United States) (AFP) – US ski star Mikaela Shiffrin, chasing a landmark 100th World Cup win, topped the first leg of the giant slalom in Killington, Vermont, on Saturday. Shiffrin, a two-time Olympic champion and five-time overall World Cup champion, was second out of the gate in the opening run and defied difficult, windy conditions to take the lead in 55.78sec. Sweden’s Hector Sara was second-quickest in 56.10.
Shiffrin, 29, already has 13 more World Cup wins than the most successful man, Ingemar Stenmark, and 17 more than the second woman, compatriot Lindsey Vonn. She bagged her 98th and 99th career titles this season with slalom wins in Levi, Finland, and Gurgl, Austria. That gave her a chance to complete her century in front of home fans in Killington, not far from where she attended Burke Mountain Academy as a youngster.
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She was greeted by ecstatic cheers as she crossed the finish line of the first leg, then watched as the remainder of the field failed to catch her. Italian Federica Brignone, who won the season-opening giant slalom in Soelden, was 1.26sec off the pace and Lara Gut-Behrami was 1.57sec back. New Zealand’s Alice Robinson, runner-up in Soelden, skied off the course.
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