Shiffrin ends season with her 60th World Cup slalom win

Mikaela Shiffrin capped her season that was marred by a six-week injury layoff with her record-extending 60th win in slalom and 97th overall at the World Cup finals Saturday in Austria.

The American star trailed Anna Swenn Larsson of Sweden after the first run but ultimately won the season-ending slalom by 0.54 seconds from Mina Fuerst Holtmann of Norway, while Swenn Larsson dropped to third, 0.63 off the pace.

Shiffrin had already locked up her record-equaling eighth slalom season title last week in her first race back since hurting her knee in a downhill crash in Italy in January.

The two-time Olympic champion sprained the MCL and tibiofibular ligament in her knee, while also still recovering from a bone bruise sustained at the start of the season.

“Oh wow, it’s been a wild season,” Shiffrin said in a course-side TV interview. “I’m happy for the final race of the season to go so well. I’m looking forward to next season already.”

Asked about her wins total, Shiffrin took a breath before answering.

“Just a little bit hard to process it all. It’s like these days just make me feel so invigorated, like so alive, and that’s what I’m focusing on. I’m trying to soak that all in,” she said.

With key rivals Petra Vlhova and Wendy Holdener ending their campaigns prematurely with injuries, Shiffrin has won seven slaloms this season, raising her career tally to 60. No other skier, male or female, has won more than 46 in a single discipline.

Shiffrin, who turned 29 on Wednesday, said on Instagram the slalom would be her last race of the season, skipping today’s giant slalom and next week’s speed events.

AP United States’ Mikaela Shiffrin holds up the trophy Saturday for the alpine ski, women’s World Cup slalom discipline, in Saalbach, Austria. Shiffrin came back from a knee injury earlier in the season for her 97th overall World Cup win.