American skier Mikaela Shiffrin secured her record-extending 98th World Cup victory in the opening slalom of the ski season in Finland on Saturday, November 16.
As per BBC Sports, she established a 0.60-second lead after the first run in Levi and secured victory over Austria’s Katharina Liensberger by 0.79 seconds.
While, Germany’s Lena Duerr secured third place, finishing 0.83 seconds behind the winner.
Shortly after the win, Shiffrin expressed her excitement, saying, "Amazing way to start the slalom season, I'm super happy.”
The 29-year-old further said, “[It was] a little bumpy. "I was getting twisted sometimes, but then keep fighting. Not the perfect tempo, but enough really good turns that it works really well. In the end, a really solid run in conditions not so easy.”
Shiffrin claimed victory in both slaloms at the end of last season after recovering from a knee injury sustained in a downhill crash in January, earning her eight World Cup tittle in slalom skiing.
She has now achieved 61 slaloms and 98 races in total, setting World Cup records for both categories across all genders.
The player is considered one of the greatest alpine skiers of all time and was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.
Shiffrin will return to compete in Gurgl, Austria on Saturday, November 23 for another slalom, followed by races on three consecutive weekends in the United States and Canada.
