Skier Shiffrin Locks Up Overall Title, Still Chases Win 86

KVITFJELL, Norway—American skier Mikaela Shiffrin accomplished what she called “the big, big goal for me this season.”

It wasn’t an 86th career win, however.

Shiffrin won her fifth World Cup overall title on Saturday by taking fifth in the downhill. This is widely considered to be ski racing’s most prestigious prize.

“That’s really amazing. That [overall title] was like the big, big goal for me this season,” Shiffrin added. “I had such a big focus on it that I was even talking about it in interviews in the beginning of the season. Normally I don’t talk about it so much because it takes a long time to figure out if you can do it.”

American was able to extend her quest for another win in the race by completing a second day of super-G competitions on Sunday.

Shiffrin needs one victory to match Ingemar Stenmark ‘s total on the all-time overall winners list—between men and women. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Swede participated in these events.

Shiffrin and former American teammate Lindsey Vonn broke a tie in the women’s all-time list. Vonn was a winner with 82 victories when she retired in 2019.

Kajsa Victorkhoff Lie was the winner of Saturday’s race. She became the first woman from Norway to win downhill in World Cup skiing’s 56-year history.

“We are so used to the [Norwegian] men winning downhills, so I didn’t even know that before this season,” Lie said. “For me, I wanted to win a downhill, that’s been my dream. And it’s always been a dream of me to have a home race, to have everybody here. I wanted to give them a show.”

Sofia Goggia finis