Mikaela Shiffrin won the downhill Wednesday at the World Cup Finals, just her third downhill win in her career, to increase her lead in the standings for the overall title. It was her first downhill win in two years.
The 27-year-old appeared to be in disbelief after putting down the winning run on the new Eclipse course.
Sending it down the hill, @MikaelaShiffrin wins the final race of the women’s downhill World Cupđź‘Ź#fisalpine pic.twitter.com/X9LEzQoKEU— FIS Alpine (@fisalpine) March 16, 2022
Sending it down the hill, @MikaelaShiffrin wins the final race of the women’s downhill World Cup👏#fisalpine pic.twitter.com/X9LEzQoKEU
Shiffrin finished in a time of 1:27.00. Christine Scheyer and Joana Haehlen tied for second with a time of 1:27.10. The margin of victory was tight, with fifth place finisher Lara Gut Behrami only 0.16 seconds behind Shiffrin in a time of 1:27.16.
It’s Shiffrin’s 74th career victory in the World Cup.
Previously this season, her best finish in the downhill had been 18th. She had raced in the event in just two World Cup events and the Beijing Olympics, where she struggled to complete a number of her races.
With the victory, Shiffrin earned 100 World Cup points. Rival Petra Vlhová, who sits second in the race for the title, finished in 16th. In search of her fourth career overall title, Shiffrin now leads Vlhová by 156 points with just three races left this week.
The women’s downhill title for the season was won by Sofia Goggia, who finished 12th overall in Tuesday’s race. It’s her third career downhill trophy.
Shiffrin will have a chance to increase her lead even more on Thursday, and possibly secure the overall title, during the super-G.