Alpine skiing-Shiffrin leads giant slalom with World Cup record in sight

ARE, Sweden (Reuters) – American skier Mikaela Shiffrin was heading for a record-equalling 86th World Cup victory after leading the first leg of a women’s giant slalom in Are by more than half a second on Friday.

Shiffrin, who began seventh, was 0.58 second faster than the 15th-starting Canadian Valerie Grenier down Stortloppsbacken’s slope.

According to provisional results, Austria’s FranziskaGritsch came in 16th place at the start hut.

Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark, who raced in the 1970s and 1980s, holds the all-time record of 86 wins — all in slalom or giant slalom.

Shiffrin (28 on Monday) took her 85th victory in the Czech resort Spindleruv Mlyn on Jan. 28 and won her fifth overall women’s World Cup globe in Kvitfjell in Norway.

She broke the record set by Lindsey Vonn, a compatriot in January’s women’s World Cup win record of 82.

“I felt very good with this run and the surface is amazing so it just feels really good to ski on the track right now,” Shiffrin spoke to Eurosport television.

The second race would take the world champion on a completely different path.

“They can really set the gates wherever they want and its really good to ski, so its going to require a lot of pushing,” She added.

“I think all of the other women now see how hard you can go, how aggressive you can ski, so everybody’s going to be taking it up a notch… everybody wants to win so it’s certainly not over yet.”

(Reporting from London by Alan Baldwin; editing by Toby Davis