American skier Mikaela Shiffrin dominated downhill training in Norway on Wednesday ahead of what could become another record-breaking weekend. Shiffrin is aiming for her 86th career World Cup victory to match the all-time mark set by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark in the 1970s and 80s. Shiffrin is expected to have three chances this weekend, starting with a super-G on Friday, followed by a downhill the next day and another super-G on Sunday.
The races in Kvitfjell, the resort that hosted the Alpine skiing events at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics, mark Shiffrin’s return to World Cup racing after nearly five weeks. She sat out speed races in Switzerland last weekend, which were the first World Cup events after the world championships in France. Shiffrin won gold in giant slalom and silver in both super-G and slalom at the worlds in February, but those results don’t count towards the World Cup.
While the downhill is her weakest event — with three career wins from 19 starts — Shiffrin did post the fastest time by far in Wednesday’s first training on the Olympiabakken course. She led Norwegian skier Kajsa Vickhoff Lie by more than half a second, while only two more racers finished within a second of the American’s time.
Olympic champion Corinne Suter was 1.20 seconds behind, World Cup downhill leader Sofia Goggia finished 1.50 back, and world champion Jasmine Flury of Switzerland trailed Shiffrin by 2.78. A second downhill training is scheduled for Thursday. Apart from the 86-win record, Shiffrin has another target within reach this weekend. She can lock up the season-long World Cup overall title, generally regarded as Alpine skiing’s biggest prize.
With 722 points to spare over Petra Vlhova in second position, Shiffrin is leading. With just six events remaining after this weekend, the Slovakian 2021 overall champion will not be competing in the races in Norway. Winning a race earns 100 points.
Thus, the only one challenging Shiffrin for the crystal globe award is Lara Gut-Behrami. The 2016 overall champion and third-ranked Swiss skier sits 771 points behind the American.
Shiffrin would be officially declared the overall winner on Friday if she were to widen the margin to 800 points or more.