Mikaela Shiffrin wins by huge margin for 93rd career victory - ESPN

LIENZ, Austria — Mikaela Shiffrin always seems to raise the bar even further when it's the last World Cup race of the year.

The American star finished 2023 with an eye-catching performance even by her standards, winning a slalom race by a huge margin of 2.34 seconds on Friday for her 93rd career victory.

It was Shiffrin's seventh victory out of her last eight starts in the traditional year-ending slalom, which alternates between the Austrian resorts of Lienz and Semmering.

«The last couple of years, we really built from the beginning of the season to this point, and somehow it clicks, I guess,» said Shiffrin, who missed this race in 2015 with a knee injury, and in 2021 after testing positive for the coronavirus.

However, there's no secret to her peaking between Christmas and New Year.

«In skiing, it's always just like: be relentless with the work, do the job,» the American five-time overall World Cup champion said.

Shiffrin posted the fastest times by far in both runs on the Schlossberg course to finish ahead of runner-up Lena Duerr of Germany. Swiss skier Michelle Gisin was 0.11 further back in third.

«Today was a very special day for me. I felt perfect on the skis, so I'm super happy,» said Shiffrin, who also won Thursday's giant slalom on the same hill. «It's a very nice feeling right now.»

Friday's result was the seventh-biggest winning margin ever in a women's World Cup slalom. Shiffrin set four of those other marks, including the record of 3.07 seconds from a race in Aspen, Colorado, in November 2015.

Her American teammate Paula Moltzan, who was second after the opening leg, straddled a gate and did not finish her final run.

Shiffrin's main rival in slalom, Olympic champion Petra Vlhova, finished 3.24 seconds