Mikaela Shiffrin closes in on women's record with 81st World Cup victory

Mikaela Shiffrin won the first women's World Cup race of 2023 on Wednesday to move within one victory of Lindsey's Vonn record.

Shiffrin dealt best with difficult course conditions to dominate a floodlit slalom and raise her career tally to 81 World Cup wins. She could match the best mark Thursday at another slalom on the same course. Live coverage of the second and decisive run begins at 12 p.m. ET on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.

American standout Vonn set the women's record of 82 before retiring in 2019. The overall best mark is 86, from Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark.

"I'm happy, I'm incredibly happy. I mean, I had so much fun skiing today and it was really my best skiing both runs today," said Shiffrin, who beat runner-up Petra Vlhova by 0.76 seconds.

WATCH | Shiffrin wins under the lights in Zagreb:

The former overall champion of Slovakia had won the race on the outskirts of the Croatian capital the past three seasons.

The rest of the field finished more than 1.20 behind the American's winning time.

Shiffrin certainly has been more than just good enough in recent weeks.

The four-time overall champion stretched her winning streak to five races, which included three different events: super-G, giant slalom, and slalom.

Only two female racers have won more races in succession: Swiss skier Vreni Schneider won eight in 1988-89 and Germany's Katja Seizinger won six in 1997.

Amelia Smart of Invermere, B.C., was the top Canadian finisher, placing eighth at 1:39.35. Laurence St-Germain, of  Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que., was 14th (1:39.99) while Toronto's Ali Nullmeyer qualified for the second run but did not finish.

WATCH | Smart places 8th:

Earlier, Shiffrin won back-to-back slaloms in Finland to start the