LEVI, Finland: Mikaela Shiffrin opened the Olympic slalom season in convincing style Saturday by dominating a World Cup race in Finnish Lapland for her record-extending 102nd career win.
The American star built on a commanding first-run lead of more than a second, clocked the fastest time again in the final run and won the race by 1.66 seconds from second-placed Lara Colturi.
“It’s for sure a good feeling, it was so nice to race today. I felt really strong on both runs,” said Shiffrin, adding she didn’t want to be too cautious in protecting her big lead.
“I was just feeling like: ‘Oh, don’t mess it up, like it would be embarrassing, kind of.’ But then, in the end, if you are pushing as hard as you can, you can’t mess it up.”
Colturi, an Italian-born prodigy competing for Albania, matched her career-best result. Colturi turned 19 on Saturday.
All-rounder Emma Aicher placed third, 2.59 behind, for her first podium in a tech race. The German, who turned 22 last Thursday, won a downhill and a super-G last March.
Shiffrin’s teammate Paula Moltzan, who finished runner-up in the season-opening giant slalom in Austria three weeks ago, was 2.46 off the lead in 19th but improved to fourth place, which she shared with Aicher’s teammate Lena Duerr.
Shiffrin and Moltzan now rank 1-2 in the overall standings after two races.
Slalom World Cup champion Zrinka Ljutic of Croatia was fourth after the opening run and dropped to sixth.
Shiffrin laid the foundation for her 65th slalom victory with an aggressive first run.
“This was the best run I could do, that was kind of perfect,” Shiffrin said after the opening run, calling it “a wonderful feeling” to replicate some of her best skiing from training.
“The whole summer prep I was focusing really a lot on giant slalom, so I didn’t get so many slalom days,” said the American, who placed fourth in the GS in October.
“But then when I did train slalom, it was really important to be maximum quality, maximum intensity every run.”
Recovered from a frightening crash in a GS a year ago, Shiffrin announced before the season she planned to reduce her schedule to slalom and GS, and maybe super-G, heading into the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in February.
Shiffrin won Olympic gold in slalom in 2014 and in GS in four years later.
Nine of Shiffrin’s record 102 World Cup wins have come in the traditional season-opening slalom in Lapland, where the winner is given a reindeer as a prize.
No skier other than Shiffrin or Petra Vlhova of Slovakia has won the race in 14 editions since then overall champion Tina Maze triumphed in 2014.
Vlhova, who is the 2022 Olympic slalom champion, is still recovering from the lingering knee injury she sustained in January 2024.
A men’s slalom on the same hill is scheduled for Sunday. The women travel to Austria for another slalom next weekend.
US ski star Shiffrin dominates 1st World Cup slalom of Olympic season for career win 102
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US ski star Shiffrin dominates 1st World Cup slalom of Olympic season for career win 102
- “It’s for sure a good feeling, it was so nice to race today. I felt really strong on both runs,” said Shiffrin
- Colturi, an Italian-born prodigy competing for Albania, matched her career-best result
Inter continue Scudetto march after Champions League humbling
- Milan will be favorites to win at Cremonese in Sunday’s early fixture, with the local rivals set to face off next weekend in a match which will in all likelihood have little impact on the destination of the Scudetto
MILAN, Italy: Inter Milan bounced back from Champions League elimination with Saturday’s 2-0 win over Genoa which continued their march toward the Serie A title.
Federico Dimarco’s brilliant volley just after the half-hour mark and Hakan Calhanoglu’s second-half penalty were enough for Inter to extend their already huge lead over AC Milan at the top of the table to 13 points.
Milan will be favorites to win at Cremonese in Sunday’s early fixture, with the local rivals set to face off next weekend in a match which will in all likelihood have little impact on the destination of the Scudetto.
Inter, whose fans unloaded a collection of anti-Milan chants in anticipation of the derby, have dropped just two points in 15 league matches and have been a cut above the rest in Italy’s top flight this season.
Their domestic dominance comes in stark contrast to the humiliating manner in which they were dumped out of the Champions League by Bodo/Glimt on Tuesday night.
A 5-2 aggregate defeat to the Norwegian minnows cast doubts over not just the quality of Cristian Chivu’s team but of Italian football as a whole.
There was plenty of quality in Dimarco’s opener however, the Italy full-back beautifully placing a first-time finish from a tight angle after exchanging passes with Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
Little else happened in a humdrum encounter until Alex Amorim handled a cross from Luis Henrique, whose shot had been tipped onto the post just moments before.
Calhanoglu calmly stroked home the spot-kick on his return to action following niggling muscle problems which have caused him issues since before Christmas, sealing the points for Inter.
Big Rom back
Romelu Lukaku kept Napoli on course for a Champions League spot with a last-gasp winner in the champions’ 2-1 victory over rock-bottom Verona, the Belgium forward’s first goal of the season.
Lukaku forced home Giovane’s cross to snatch the win for third-placed Napoli with the last kick of the game at the Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi.
Napoli had looked like dropping points in northern Italy when Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro levelled Rasmus Hojlund’s early opener in the 65th minute.
But Lukaku, who only played his first game of the season in late January, gave Napoli a huge win with both Como and Atalanta pushing for a top-four placing.
“I was a dead player before coming here,” said Lukaku to DAZN.
“This season has been difficult, but we’ve got to aim high.”
Napoli’s title defense is all but over as they trail Inter by 14 points after an injury-ravaged season.
Napoli were missing key midfielders Scott McTominay, Kevin De Bruyne and Andre-Frank Anguissa on Saturday, as well as captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo.
Verona, under interim coach Paolo Sammarco following the sacking of Paolo Zanetti earlier this month, are 10 points from safety after a 12th straight match without a win.
Como, who face Inter in the first leg of the Italian Cup semifinals on Tuesday, strolled to 3-1 victory over strugglers Lecce to continue their push for a first-ever qualification for European football.
Cesc Fabregas’s team are two points behind Roma, in fourth and Juventus’ opponents on Sunday, and five behind Napoli.
Como are also two points ahead of sixth-placed Juve who face Roma trying to stay in touch with the Champions League places after being eliminated from Europe’s elite club competition by Galatasaray on Wednesday.
