By Canadian Press on January 30, 2025.
COURCHEVEL, France (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin finished 10th in a World Cup slalom race on her injury comeback on Thursday, with Croatian racer Zrinka Ljutic winning in style under floodlights at Courchevel.
The 21-year-old Ljutic has won three of the past four slaloms. She was 1.26 seconds ahead of Sweden’s Sara Hector and 1.28 clear of Germany’s Lena Duerr.
Shiffrin was 2.04 seconds adrift. Chasing a record-extending 100th World Cup win, the 29-year-old American was fifth after the first run on the Stade Emile Allais course.
Shiffrin crashed on Nov. 30 in a giant slalom in Killington, Vermont, and was injured sliding down the mountain. A couple of weeks later, the two-time Olympic gold medalist had abdominal surgery to clean out a puncture wound.
Shiffrin said before this race that she was prioritizing her recovery ahead of chasing the magic 100. The world championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria are next month, where Shiffrin will be eyeing medals in giant slalom and slalom.
A massive 62 of Shiffrin’s 99 World Cup wins have been in slalom. She cupped her hands and then waved to the crowd after finishing her second run.
No other skier, male or female, has won more than 86 World Cup races.
Having overtaken Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark, she needed a podium finish to equal Stenmark’s record of 155 World Cup podiums.
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The Associated Press