Shiffrin nears record with 45th slalom win

Mikaela Shiffrin denied her Slovakian rival Petra Vlhova a home victory, winning the first World Cup slalom following the world championships.

Shiffrin trailed first-run leader Vlhova by 0.27 seconds on a hill in Jasna ,where the Slovakian regularly trains. But the American had a blistering final run to win the race by 0.34 as the pair continued its dominance in the discipline. They combined have won 31 of the 32 World Cup slaloms held since January 2017, a streak interrupted only by Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin.

“I feel pretty amazing about it,” Shiffrin said about her 45th career slalom win and 69th overall. “It was a really good fight for me and that’s a pretty nice feeling to have right now.”

The result moved Shiffrin within one victory of a World Cup record. Only one skier, male or female, has won more races in a single discipline: Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark triumphed 46 times in giant slalom in the 1970s and 80s.

• Vincent Kriechmayr ended his two-year-long victory drought in men’s World Cup downhills by winning in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, three weeks after he took the world title in the discipline.

Beat Feuz, who leads the downhill season standings, came closest but the Swiss skier finished 0.17 off the lead.