Mikaela Shiffrin wins fourth overall World Cup title
- Published
Mikaela Shiffrin has two Winter Olympic gold medals and a silver alongside her four overall World Cup titles
Mikaela Shiffrin claimed her fourth overall World Cup title to tie with Lindsey Vonn for the second most in women's skiing.
The American put her Winter Olympics disappointment behind her to wrap up the title with two races remaining.
Shiffrin finished second in Thursday's super-G final to give her an unassailable lead over closest rival Petra Vlhova, who was 17th.
Annemarie Moser-Proll has won the most overall women's World Cups with six.
"The whole season has been ups and downs, and the downs have been very, very low for me. [They've been] some of the toughest moments of my career and of my life," Shiffrin said.
"Every time I have a tough moment, it brings back the other tough moments and I just get so low, and I just want to go home. I felt it five days ago, I felt it at the Olympics.
"So it's quite special to come here after everything and to be able to accomplish and achieve maybe the biggest goal I had for myself this season."
The World Cup overall title is awarded to the skier with the most combined points across all disciplines during the season.
Shiffrin covered her mouth in surprise before being congratulated by her competitors when her victory was confirmed in Courchevel, France.
The 27-year-old won her previous three overall titles between 2017 and 2019.
She cut her 2020 season short after the death of her father and struggled with a back injury last year.
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Shiffrin arrived at the Winter Games in Beijing as one of the favourites but skied out of her first two races and left the competition without a medal.
However, she fought back to win the World Cup, with a surprise win in the downhill on Wednesday helping her further increase her lead over Slovakia's Vlhova.
Shiffrin had only raced three times in the event this season, with her best result an 18th-placed finish before her surprise win in France.
Her overall victory was then confirmed with her second-place finish on Thursday, which took her to an unassailable 236-point lead.
Shiffrin finished just 0.05 seconds behind race winner Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway, who won in one minute 13.68 seconds.
Shiffrin will compete in Saturday's slalom and the giant slalom on Sunday.