Mikaela Shiffrin showcased her extraordinary talent by securing her 102nd career victory in a World Cup slalom race held in Levi, Finland, on March 15, 2024. The American skier opened the Olympic slalom season with a commanding performance, finishing the race with a lead of 1.66 seconds over her nearest competitor, Lara Colturi.
In a display of dominance, Shiffrin established a significant lead during the first run, clocking a time that was more than a second faster than her rivals. She maintained her momentum, achieving the fastest time in the final run as well. “It’s for sure a good feeling, it was so nice to race today. I felt really strong on both runs,” Shiffrin remarked. She expressed her determination not to become too cautious despite her substantial lead, stating, “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, who recently turned 19, matched her career-best result by finishing in second place. The Italian-born skier represents Albania and celebrated her birthday with a notable performance. Finishing in third was Emma Aicher, whose time was 2.59 seconds behind Shiffrin. Aicher’s podium finish marked her first in a technical race, following her previous successes in downhill and super-G events last season.
Shiffrin’s teammate, Paula Moltzan, who had finished second in the season-opening giant slalom in Austria three weeks prior, placed fourth in the slalom, sharing the position with Aicher’s teammate, Lena Duerr. Following the race, Shiffrin and Moltzan now hold the top two spots in the overall standings after just two races. Notably, the reigning slalom World Cup champion, Zrinka Ljutic from Croatia, initially placed fourth after the first run but ultimately dropped to sixth.
Shiffrin laid the groundwork for her 65th slalom win with an aggressive first run. “This was the best run I could do, that was kind of perfect,” she commented, describing the experience as “a wonderful feeling” that allowed her to replicate some of her best training performances. She acknowledged the challenges of preparing for slalom, stating, “The whole summer prep I was focusing really a lot on giant slalom, so I didn’t get so many slalom days. But then when I did train slalom, it was really important to be maximum quality, maximum intensity every run.”
Having recovered from a significant crash during a giant slalom event last year, Shiffrin previously announced her intention to reduce her competition schedule to focus on slalom, giant slalom, and possibly super-G in anticipation of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in February 2026. Shiffrin successfully clinched Olympic gold in slalom in 2014 and in giant slalom four years later.
In an interesting sidenote, Shiffrin has now won the season-opening slalom in Lapland nine times, a record that highlights her unparalleled success in this event. Since 2014, only Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova of Slovakia have triumphed in this race, which has been held 14 times. Vlhova, the 2022 Olympic slalom champion, is currently recovering from a knee injury sustained in January 2024.
Looking ahead, the women’s skiing circuit will move to Austria for another slalom event next weekend, while a men’s slalom on the same hill in Levi is scheduled for Sunday.
