Six out of seven. This is the number of victories in seven participations of Mikaela Shiffrin in the Killington Slalom. After fifth place last season, the 28-year-old American skier won the Slalom in Killington today with a lead of 0.33 seconds over Petra Vlhova and +1.37 ahead of Wendy Holdener.
90 victories, 55 of them in slalom at the World Cup, is the foreign record set today by Shiffrin and the bar will continue to rise higher. The question now is when will she reach 100 wins?
“Winning in front of a home crowd feels really good. Today I had self-confidence and it was important for me to be the fastest. I had to get it down here. Now I'm looking forward to the giant slaloms at Tremblant. I have good energy and hope I can continue it”, Shiffrin said.
Today is the fifth time Petra Vlhova finished second behind Shiffrin in the Slalom in Killington (2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, and now 2023). It's her 69 podium in the Alpine Ski World Cup and her 43 in Slalom.
"The second run, I needed to push if I wanted to be on the top. When I crossed the finish line, I thought maybe it can be enough but Mikaela was better today. Mikaela is strong, it could be a good fight again this season", Vlhova said.
A year after her drought-breaking first World Cup Slalom win on this piste, Wendy Holdener was back among the World's best in Killington. In fourth place after the first run, she overtook German Lena Dürr with a solid second run and made it to third place. It is the 49 Alpine Ski World Cup podium and her 35th in Slalom. It's the third time Holdener finished in third place in the Killington Slalom (2016, 2021, and now 2023).
"Today I was really tense. I was more nervous on the second run than the first, but happy that I made it. I have a lot of great memories in Killington. I had some amazing races, my first World Cup Slalom victory. I love to come back, I love to race with the crazy crowd", Holdener said.
After three slaloms in the World Cup, Mikaela Shiffrin is on the lead of the discipline standings with 250 points, 60 points ahead of Lena Dürr. Petra Vlhova is in third place with 180 points.