Olympic champ Mikaela Shiffrin dominates slalom for 40th career win

Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin dominated a women’s World Cup slalom on Sunday for her 40th career win.

The result put the American level with Sweden great Ingemar Stenmark for the number of World Cup victories before turning 23.

Only Annemarie Moser-Proell won more races (41) at that age, but Shiffrin can match the Austrian great’s record at a night slalom in Flachau tomorrow.

A day after winning a giant slalom on the same hill, Shiffrin positioned herself for the win by taking first-run lead of a 1.47 seconds over Frida Hansdotter of Sweden in what the American called “maybe the best run of slalom I have ever done in a race.”

It was the fourth straight slalom race where Shiffrin held a first-run lead of more than a second, a huge margin in a sport often decided by hundredths of a second.

Shiffrin posted the third-fastest time in the final leg and beat Hansdotter by 1.64 seconds, while Wendy Holdener of Switzerland was 1.87 behind in third for her 13nd career slalom podium without winning - a World Cup record.

Petra Vlhova of Slovakia, the only skier to beat Shiffrin in a slalom this season, was 2.18 behind in fourth.

Her two wins this weekend easily earned Shiffrin the Golden Fox Trophy, which adds the slalom results to those of Saturday’s GS.

It was another confirmation that Shiffrin, initially excelling in slalom, has become a consistent winner in both technical disciplines.

Marcel Hirscher wins World Cup slalom for weekend double

Marcel Hirscher completed a perfect World Cup weekend by winning a slalom yesterday to extend his lead in the overall and discipline standings.

Retaining his first-run lead, just as he did in Saturday’s giant slalom, Hirscher was 0.13 seconds faster than his Austria teammate Michael Matt on a tricky racing surface on a warm day.

Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway trailed Hirscher by 0.16 to complete the same podium places as a slalom Thursday at Zagreb, Croatia.

Hirscher’s third win in four days was also a fourth straight in traditional slalom this season and 52nd of a stellar career.

Kristoffersen, who won the Adelboden slalom the past two years, now has nine podium finishes without a win in a season increasingly dominated by his big rival.