Mikaela Shiffrin takes World Cup slalom title but misses all-time wins record
- Published
Mikaela Shiffrin eclipsed former US team-mate Lindsey Vonn's record of 82 wins earlier this season to become the most successful women's World Cup skier of all time
Mikaela Shiffrin clinched a seventh overall slalom title but remains one short of the World Cup wins record after finishing second in Sunday's women's slalom in Spindleruv Mlyn.
The American, 27, was aiming to match Ingemar Stenmark's total of 86 wins.
But she finished six hundredths of a second behind Germany's Lena Durr, who completed her two runs in one minute 30.91 to seal a first slalom win.
Croatia's Zrinka Ljutic, 19, was third (1:31.40), her first World Cup podium.
Shiffrin claimed the slalom title with two races of the season remaining.
She also increased her lead over Slovakia's Petra Vlhova in the women's overall World Cup standings to 731 points as she bids to defend her crown and clinch a fifth title of her career.
But the stage had looked set for Shiffrin to claim that all-important 12th win of the season to draw level with Swedish legend Stenmark, who dominated the men's slalom and giant slalom in the 1970s and 80s.
She took a 0.67 second advantage into the second run at the Czech resort, where she began her World Cup career in 2011 just days before her 16th birthday.
But Shiffrin struggled to maintain her speed going down last on a course that had carved up badly and Durr held her form to reverse the top-two placings of Saturday's slalom race on the same course.
The American superstar will now have to wait to continue her World Cup quest until after the World Championships, which will take place in French resorts of Courchevel and Méribel from 6-19 February.
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