Day after tying mark, Shiffrin sets World Cup skiing record with win
ARE, SWEDEN » American skier Mikaela Shiffrin set the outright World Cup record for most career victories with 87 by winning a slalom Saturday.
Shiffrin broke a tie with Ingemar Stenmark on the all-time overall winners list between men and women. The Swede competed in the 1970s and 80s.
Shiffrin had matched Stenmark’s mark of 86 wins with victory in a giant slalom Friday.
“Pretty hard to comprehend,” Shiffrin said about the record.
After finishing the final run, the American crouched and rested her head on her knees. Her bother, Taylor Shiffrin, then came out and hugged her during the winners ceremony.
Saturday’s result marked the American’s sixth slalom win of the season and the record-extending 53rd career win in the discipline.
Shiffrin dominated the first run and posted the fifth-fastest time in the second to beat Swiss skier Wendy Holdener by 0.92 seconds.
Thrird-place home favorite Anna Swenn Larsson was the last racer to finish within a second of Shiffrin’s time.
ODERMATT LOCKS UP OVERALL TITLE » Olympic champion Marco Odermatt won a men’s World Cup giant slalom as the Swiss skier locked up the overall title.
Odermatt built on his first-run lead to beat Alexis Pinturault of France by 0.23 seconds. Norwegian skier Henrik Kristoffersen was 0.37 behind in third.
Baseball
D’BACKS LOCK UP CARROLL » Outfielder Corbin Carroll and the Arizona Diamondbacks have agreed to a $111 million, eight-year contract that also has a club option for the 2031 season, according to a person familiar with the deal.
The 22-year-old Carroll is one of baseball’s top prospects and among the betting favorites — according to FanDuel Sportsbook — to win Rookie of the Year this season. Carroll was very good in a late-season cameo last season, batting .260 with four homers and 14 RBIs in 32 games.
Media
BBC CRISIS ESCALATES » The BBC was forced to scrap much of its weekend sports programming as the network scrambled to stem an escalating crisis over its suspension of soccer host Gary Lineker for comments criticizing the British government’s new asylum policy.
As a growing number of English Premier League players and BBC presenters rallied to Lineker’s support and refused to appear on the airwaves, Britain’s national broadcaster faced allegations of political bias and suppressing free speech, as well as praise from some Conservative politicians.
The broadcaster said it would air only “limited sport programming” this weekend after hosts of many of its popular sports shows declined to appear, in solidarity with Lineker. The former England captain was suspended from “Match of the Day,” a popular soccer highlights show, over a Twitter post that compared lawmakers’ language about migrants to that used in Nazi Germany.
Tennis
SWIATEK DOMINATES AT BNP PARIBAS OPEN » Topranked Iga Swiatek routed Claire Liu in 65 minutes to win her opening match at the BNP Paribas Open.
Swiatek, the defending champion who took over the No. 1 ranking nearly a year ago, won 6-0, 6-1. She lost just seven points in the first set.
Taylor Fritz, the defending men’s champion, rallied past former NCAA singles champion Ben Shelton, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Andy Murray beat Radu Albot, 6-4, 6-3 in his first straight-set victory of the year to set up a thirdround match with Jack Draper. Murray had just 18 unforced errors to 35 for Albot, and never faced a break point on his serve while firing six aces.
Jannik Sinner defeated Richard Gasquet, 6-3, 7-6 (2). The 21-year-old Sinner fired 20 forehand winners against the 36-year-old veteran.
Iditarod
DEFENDING CHAMP LEAVES RACE » Brent Sass, the defending Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race champion, withdrew from this year’s race, citing concerns for his health.
Sass scratched at the Eagle Island checkpoint, a statement from the Iditarod said. Eagle Island is about 600 miles into the nearly 1,000-mile race.