Mikaela Shiffrin dominates 1st run of slalom and closes in on record ninth season discipline title

SPINDLERUV MLYN, Czech Republic (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin dominated the opening run of the last women’s World Cup slalom before the Olympics on Sunday to close in on her record ninth season title in the discipline.

Shiffrin built a big lead of 1.26 seconds over second-placed Wendy Holdener of Switzerland, and Germany’s Emma Aicher in third had 1.47 to make up in the final run.

Shiffrin has won six of the previous seven slaloms this season and will lock up the title on Sunday if she finishes eighth or better, giving her an insurmountable lead over her only remaining challenger in the season standings, Camille Rast.

Shiffrin led the Swiss skier by 268 points coming into Sunday’s race, with a win worth 100 points. There are two more slaloms scheduled after the Olympics.

Rast stood fourth in Sunday’s race, sharing the position with Paula Moltzan, as they both finished 1.66 behind.

Rast triumphed in the only slalom Shiffrin didn’t win this season, in Slovenia three weeks ago.

Shiffrin opened Sunday’s race with a near-flawless run on the Cerna Svaty Petr course.

“There were two turns that went like really quick, and I was a little bit like, close your eyes, I don’t know if I’m going to stay on the course,” Shiffrin said.

“And after that, I had to push like 120% so in the end it was a really good run. It was pretty high intensity.”

Shiffrin would become the first skier, female or male, in the six-decade-long history of the World Cup to win nine titles in one discipline.

She shares the current best mark with American teammate Lindsey Vonn, who has eight downhill titles. On the men’s side, Ingemar Stenmark won the slalom globe and Marcel Hirscher the overall title eight times each.

Shiffrin’s 70 career race wins in slalom and 107 overall are both records for men and women.

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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing