Editorial: 83

Lindsey Vonn, another American star and a role model for Shiffrin had been the sport’s previous female standard-bearer with 82 World Cup wins. Shiffrin now needs just four more wins to break Ingemar Stenmark’s record of 86 World Cup wins, the most by a male or female skier. Stenmark competed in the 1970s and 1980s.

What’s more is that Shiffrin is 27. Vonn was 33 when she won her last World Cup event. Stenmark was 32.

The record also comes nearly a year after Shiffrin didn’t win a medal in six events at the Beijing Olympics after entering amid big expectations.

Shiffrin posted the fastest first run of the day, arching around the 42 turning gates of the Erta slope in 58.72 seconds. Gut-Behrami, who won the season-opening giant slalom in Killington back in November and was second in Kronplatz last season, sat 0.13 seconds back.

Breaking the record in Tuesday’s giant slalom is the latest feat in a remarkable career that began when she was still in her early teens more than a decade ago. Shiffrin dazzled coaches at Burke Mountain Academy in Vermont, one of the country’s premier training grounds for Alpine talent.

She has never slowed down, or looked back.

The New York Times notes, “She burst onto the scene as a skiing prodigy, seemingly destined for greatness, the daughter of two competitive skiers who began perfecting her turns at the age of 8 under the lights on frigid New Hampshire nights at Storrs Hill — vertical drop 300 feet. A tiny hill, yes, but also an opportunity for plenty of runs and turns.”

It goes on to say, “No one is destined for anything in Alpine skiing though. The sport has essentially a 100% injury rate, and nearly every racer at some point experiences a career-threatening crash. Shiffrin has miraculously managed to avoid that fate so far, making her path to Tuesday’s record-breaking run all the faster, and even more fitting.”

She has been the youngest American skier to hit so many milestones in a career with just one major blemish — her inability to win a medal, or even complete most of her races, last year at the Beijing Olympics. She still won the overall World Cup title for 2022 and managed to win a downhill race just weeks after the mess in Beijing.

Her appearances at Killington for the World Cup have helped to draw record crowds. Shiffrin boasts about her Vermont ties and experiences, and consistently tells fans how excited she is to be coming back to the Green Mountain State year after year.

Expect even more wins.

She has two slaloms — her best event, having accounted for 51 of her 83 victories — in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic, this weekend. That was where Shiffrin made her World Cup debut as a 15-year-old in March 2011.

After a short break, Shiffrin will then again be a multi-medal threat at the world championships in Courchevel and Meribel, France, which start Feb. 6.

“That’s a pretty good image for the sport, for women’s Alpine skiers,” said Tessa Worley, a two-time world champion in GS. “And she’s still doing amazing things. So it’s an inspiration for us to just go and keep pushing.”

We agree. While Vermont cannot claim Shiffrin as its own, we all can take some pride in knowing that our mountains have helped contribute to a skiing legend.

Shiffrin will go on to break more records and collect more medals. Her breathtaking career is worth following. We are all witnessing history in the making.

We wish Shiffrin all the best in chasing all of her dreams down the slopes and then back up again.