KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia (AP) – Emotions erupted in Mikaela Shiffrin as she celebrated her 82nd birthday on Sunday.
First there was a whoop of joy after a bad case of nervousness that had been building up inside her all day. Then, as the American anthem played, she cried as her thoughts wandered to her father, Jeff, who died three years ago.
“My father used to go there and take photos. I think of him most races these days and I can sort of refocus,” Shiffrin said. “But when I sing the national anthem (it’s different). Just before I won my first world championship, he said, ‘You’d better memorize the lyrics to the national anthem because if you ever win, you sing it better.’ And that’s how I always think of him when I’m up there.”
Shiffrin led from start to finish to win a giant slalom by a wide margin and can now break Vonn’s mark in a night slalom scheduled for Tuesday in Flachau, Austria.
“I was so nervous about this run. I have a rash on my face, I was so nervous,” Shiffrin said. “I don’t know why, maybe it was a bit because of 82. I just wanted to ski well and I did that.”
Where other skiers struggled on a dark, bumpy, and unusually steep course, Shiffrin skied smoothly.
“It was a struggle. But it was pretty amazing conditions and I got a report from the coaches and they said, ‘It’s really vulnerable so just try it,'” she said. “I’ve been in that position before and given it away and today I wanted to fight for that.”
With eight wins already this season, Shiffrin is also fast approaching Ingemar Stenmark’s overall record – between men and women – of 86 wins.
Vonn retired four years ago when injuries ended her quest for Stenmark’s record.
Vonn wrote in an AP diary, “If someone breaks my record, I’m really glad it’s an American.”
Shiffrin and Vonn now each have 20 more wins than the next woman on the all-time list, Annemarie Moser-Proll of Austria at 62.
While the often-injured Vonn needed 395 races for her 82 wins, Shiffrin did it in just 233 races. And at the age of 27, Shiffrin could still compete for a few more years and win many more races.
“I knew from the start that she would be the record-breaking one,” Vonn wrote. “But to be able to do that at such a young age is really impressive.”
Shiffrin’s success comes almost a year after a disappointing performance at the Beijing Olympics, when she competed in six events without winning a medal.
However, victory in this race never really seemed in doubt.
On an overcast morning, Shiffrin was the first starter and put in a much more aggressive opening run than either of her two rides on Saturday’s steep Podkoren course as she finished sixth with a tie.
“I couldn’t ski faster,” Shiffrin said after her first run. “I felt much, much better than yesterday in that first run. I had to try to change how I felt yesterday. It was very good skiing and I am happy with it.”
Shiffrin was the last skier to start heat two, extending her lead at each checkpoint to finish a whopping 0.77 seconds ahead of Italy’s Federica Brignone and 0.97 seconds ahead of Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami.
“She was almost perfect,” Brignone said. “When she skis like that, she’s unbeatable.”
With few American fans at the race near the Italian border, supporters of Slovakian rival Petra Vlhova Shiffrin cheered loudly. A few children waved American flags and family members of Paula Moltzan, another American skier, wore USA hockey jerseys.
Shiffrin also topped Moser-Proll and Tessa Worley of France with her 17th giant slalom win to finish second in the women’s career list, behind only Vreni Schneider, the Swiss who won 20.
New Zealand skier Alice Robinson was the victim of an ugly fall during her second run and fell face first into the snow, but she quickly got up and skied down.
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Andrew Dampf can be reached at https://twitter.com/AndrewDampf
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