Shiffrin smashes more World Cup records with season-ending giant slalom win

Mikaela Shiffrin continued her record-breaking run with a 21st career giant slalom victory and 88th FIS Alpine World Cup triumph on Sunday.

American Shiffrin became the greatest skier of all time as she surpassed Ingemar Stenmark's haul of 86 World Cup wins with a giant slalom triumph last week in Are.

The 28-year-old laid down further benchmarks in Andorra, defeating Norway's Thea Louise Stjernesund by 0.06 seconds as Canada's Valerie Grenier finished in third.

That victory saw Shiffrin set the record for women's World Cup giant slalom wins, surpassing Vreni Schneider's 20, as she claimed a record-extending 88th overall triumph at the competition.

Shiffrin also moved past Lindsey Vonn as the woman with the most podium finishes in World Cup races, just a day after equalling the record, but says her most important achievement came nine years ago.

The Giant Slalom season Pd @MikaelaShiffrin Wins6th Place13th place2nd Giant Slalom titlediscipline titlesGiant Slalom World Cup victories in total#fisalpine pic.twitter.com/lXIc3yGZws
— FIS Alpine (@fisalpine) March 19, 2023

"Honestly, I think probably being the youngest Olympic slalom champion," Shiffrin, who was 18 when she won her first Olympic gold at the 2014 Sochi Games, said when asked about her greatest record.

"That was really the only record that I actually ever wanted, like really shot for.

"It happened quite some time ago, and I'm still motivated today; I still had that nervous feeling up there. I was so nervous at the start ... because you want to do well.

"And it doesn't matter about records. It's just you want to do well."

Shiffrin was interviewed by her boyfriend Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, the men's World Cup downhill champion, and somewhat lost for words when asked about her next plans after an incredible season.

"I don't know, you guys tell me. Just keep moving right along," she responded, before joking to Kilde: "We can discuss that later, in private."

Another remarkable outing meant Shiffrin finished with a career-best World Cup points tally of 2,206, only Slovenian Tina Maze's 2,414 in 2013 marks a better return in the all-time rankings.