With 82 victories, Mikaela Shiffrin joins Lindsey Vonn in the legend of alpine skiing

Europe 1 with AFP 7:20 p.m., January 8, 2023

American Mikaela Shiffrin joined her compatriot Lindsey Vonn in skiing legend by equaling her record of 82 World Cup victories on Sunday in the giant slalom in Kranjska Gora (Slovenia).

"I was a little nervous because of the record. Above all, I wanted to ski well and I did it. I can't believe it. The conditions were incredible. We knew with the coaches that we could attack from the start at the end", reacted Shiffrin, who had only taken sixth place the day before in a first giant on the same track.

This semi-failure had ended three diabolical weeks with a series of five consecutive victories

The record had been promised to Shiffrin for several years.

Performing very young (first victory at 17), the skier from Vail (Colorado) joins Vonn on the list of winners at only 27 years old.

She directly threatens the absolute record of Swede Ingemar Stenmark (86) and could set the bar at an unthinkable height, if she extends her prolific career for several years.

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Less followed than Vonn

Already in the lead at the end of the first heat, Shiffrin did not flinch by starting last on the Slovenian track, ahead of the Italian Federica Brignone by 77 hundredths and the Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami by 97 hundredths.

By joining Vonn, Shiffrin rises to the height of the last great star of alpine skiing, who retired in 2019, who had made himself known beyond the circle of followers of his sport.

Follower of glamorous photos in magazines, assiduous on the red carpet in particular with her ex-companion Tiger Woods, Vonn has acquired a notoriety that Shiffrin does not yet have: the youngest, yet very active on social networks, counts half as much followers on his Instagram account (1 million for Shiffrin, 2.1 for Vonn).

"Their personalities are different, Mikaela Shiffrin is more discreet, in her bubble", analyzes the Italian technician Alberto Senigagliesi, who was able to rub shoulders with the two champions within the American team.

"What brings them together is their desire to win. They are both very demanding with themselves, with the staff who work with them."

The two skiers experienced several moments of tension, and never hid their little hooks when Vonn was still a skier.

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Towards a 5th big globe

"Lindsey's career doesn't really have an impact on mine," Shiffrin said in 2019, a few days before her compatriot's retirement.

Both have collected trophies with a different approach, including four big globes each, an Olympic title for Vonn and two for Shiffrin.

Vonn had put his health at risk to come close to Stenmark's success record, while Shiffrin hates talking about numbers and statistics, which "dehumanize the sport and what every sportsman is trying to achieve".

"We never really talked about the record together. She (Vonn) had talked a lot about the (Stenmark) record when she was very close to breaking it, she put it forward as a real goal. is not one, we have a different approach. The important thing is that his career remains legendary, etched in the history books," Shiffrin paid tribute this week.

With her record and her extraordinary start to the season, Shiffrin completely erased the failure of the Olympic Games in Beijing last year, from where she left without a medal but with three outings.

Launched towards a fifth victory in the general classification of the World Cup, she will have the opportunity to further fill her trophy cabinet in a month at the Courchevel / Méribel Worlds (6-19 February).