Mikaela Shiffrin earned her record-extending career win 95 by triumphing in a women's World Cup slalom Sunday, a day after the American ski star's main rival sustained a season-ending injury.
In the first race without Olympic slalom champion Petra Vlhova, Shiffrin edged Croatian teenager Zrinka Ljutic by 0.14 seconds with a two-run time of one minute 48.21 seconds.
Sweden's Anna Swenn Larsson in third (1:49.02) and Switzerland's Camille Rast in fourth (1:49.11) were the only other racers to finish within a second of Shiffrin's time. "We're missing somebody really big today, we missed Petra a lot, so it's wonderful that you stayed," Shiffrin addressed the Slovakian spectators in a course-side interview in Jasna. "It was not easy on the second [run], now I feel the energy has gone," said the American, who led Ljutic by more than half a second after the opening run. "I could hear you cheering for Zrinka, which was actually quite cool from the start to hear this noise.
I knew she put down an amazing run and I had to push." It was Shiffrin's fifth slalom win of the season and her 58th in total, a World Cup record for both men and women.