03/15/26 08:00:00
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03/15 07:58 CDT Olympic champion Shiffrin takes record 8th slalom win of season
but main rival Aicher is 2nd
Olympic champion Shiffrin takes record 8th slalom win of season but main rival
Aicher is 2nd
RE, Sweden (AP) --- Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin won her record-equaling
eighth World Cup slalom of the season Sunday but her main rival in the overall
standings was second to keep the pressure on the American star.
Shiffrin dominated the last race before the World Cup Finals to beat Emma
Aicher of Germany by 0.94 seconds, with Switzerland's Wendy Holdener a second
off the pace in third.
"That was really amazing. I was like pretty nervous, pretty excited, but in the
end it was challenging to ski," Shiffrin said. "I pushed really hard. Quite
happy to get to the finish, too."
Second place marked the career-best result in slalom for Aicher, who in recent
weeks has become a threat to Shiffrin's quest for what would be the American's
record-equaling sixth overall title.
With four events remaining -- one race in each discipline -- the German
all-rounder trails leader Shiffrin by 140 points, with each race win worth 100
points.
Shiffrin had lost five points of her advantage when she finished one spot
behind Aicher in fifth in Saturday's GS, before gaining 20 on her rival
following Sunday's win.
Focusing on slalom and GS this season, and two starts in super-G, Shiffrin has
amassed 1,286 points in total, including 880 from the slalom discipline. She
already locked up her record ninth slalom globe in January, weeks before the
Olympics.
Aicher has gathered nine podiums this season across slalom, super-G and
downhill, with three wins from the speed events.
Shiffrin also won eight slaloms in the 2018-19 season, a feat previously only
achieved by Croatian great Janica Kostelic 25 years ago.
Shiffrin raised her career tally to 72 wins in slalom and 109 overall --- both
are World Cup records.
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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
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