ÅRE, Sweden — After crossing the finish line for her record-equalling eighth World Cup slalom win of the season on Sunday, Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin bent over and let out a loud scream.
Probably a combination of celebration and relief, as her main rival in the overall standings was second to keep the pressure on the American star.
Racing in sunny conditions, 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.
“Just the fact that I can stand here and say that I’m in contention is huge for me. I am very proud of that," said the 22-year-old Aicher, who finished 15th in the overall standings last season.
"But Shiffrin is still far ahead of me, so it’s going to be very hard,” the German added.
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.
The American called her battle with Aicher for the big crystal globe “exciting.”
“There is still some pushing to do. Emma is skiing just incredible, in every event. So, I try to stay in fighting spirit,” said Shiffrin, who could match the women's record of six overall titles set by Austrian standout Annemarie Moser-Pröll in the 1970s.
"It’s the kind of thing that motivates me when we are off the slopes and to keep going with the mood and the attitude. But whenever I’m in the start gate, I just try to have the best skiing I can do."
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.
“You can see she is quite calm and collected," Shiffrin said about Aicher. "To be honest, she really deserves that. She has been the top, top contender across all the disciplines, that is just incredible to see someone doing this, because she is actually the only one."
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.
Åre has been a good setting in Shiffrin’s career.
She won a record seven slaloms in the Swedish resort, including her first career victory in December 2012. She also took the world titles in both slalom and super-G there in 2019.
No other skier ever won more than two World Cup races in Åre.
The World Cup Finals in Norway for both women and men open with the speed events in Kvitfjell next weekend, followed by the GS and slalom in Hafjell on March 24-25.
