World Cup Victory No. 36 For Shiffrin

In her classic dominating style, Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.) built up a huge advantage on her first run, then charged in the second to win her 36th career FIS Ski World Cup race on a rutted slalom track in Lienz, Austria, Thursday.

“They did a really great job preparing (the course) after the rain and the snowfall. It was not easy, but it was a pleasure to ski,” Shiffrin said following her 27th career World Cup slalom victory.

Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener was second, followed by Sweden’s Frida Hansdotter in third. Resi Stiegler (Jackson Hole, Wyo.), whose father Pepi – the 1964 Olympic slalom gold medalist - grew up in Lienz, was 25th.

Shiffrin, who scored her first World Cup podium in slalom in Lienz in 2011, skied to a 1.14-second first-run advantage over Hansdotter. In the second run, she charged the top portion of the course, throttled back a bit in the steep middle section and then in classic Shiffrin style, charged to the finish to win by 0.89 seconds.

“There were some spots where I felt like I was going forward really well, and then there were some mistakes and spots where I was taking it easier,” Shiffrin said. “I just wanted to make sure I got to the finish.”

With her victory, Shiffrin extended her overall World Cup lead to almost 400 points over Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg. She also leads the overall World Cup slalom, giant slalom and downhill standings.

Canada's Roni Remme (Toronto, Ont.) had her first World Cup slalom start, following her first World Cup starts in speed at Lake Louise, CAN. Not only did Remme have her first slalom World Cup start today, but she also captured her first World Cup points, finishing 26th. She put down a great first run with the 17th-fastest time. Mistakes on her second run bumped her down a few spots. At just 21-years-old, she’ll be one to watch this season in both the technical and speed events.

Veteran Erin Mielzynski (Collingwood, Ont.) finished 22nd in the first run but an error caused her a DNF result in the second run. Laurence St-Germain (St-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que.) and Amelia Smart (Toronto, Ont.) also started today but were unable to earn a second run.