ARE, Sweden — Moments after winning her record-tying 86th World Cup race, Mikaela Shiffrin was asked by a Swedish broadcaster to directly address Ingemar Stenmark, the skiing standout who had promised to watch at home on television.
From one great to another, the 27-year-old American spoke to the 66-year-old Swede of her respect for him and the historic mark he set in 1989 that was long thought to be beyond reach.
“No matter what I do, it doesn’t ever compare to what you achieved,” Shiffrin said into the TV6 camera from the lakeside resort. “Maybe I get the 87th victory, maybe not. But for me the biggest dream is to be mentioned in the same sentence as you.”
Shiffrin matched the Swede’s mark by winning a giant slalom on Friday. She can break the record on Saturday in a slalom race. Those are her specialties, just as they were for Stenmark in the 1970s and 80s.
The reverence between the two goes both ways. Stenmark told The Associated Press in an interview last month that Shiffrin is “much better than I was.”
She was certainly good Friday, especially in a standout first run that was the platform for yet another dominating win in her storied career. Her time in the morning sunshine was more than one second faster than her highest-ranked rivals and eventually left her with a lead of 0.58 seconds to defend in second run.
Clearly pleased with her skiing in the opening run, Shiffrin smiled and said “yeah” to herself after seeing her time in the finish area.
“It’s one of the few runs in my life where, while I was skiing it, I was thinking, ‘This is good,’” Shiffrin told TV6.
Shiffrin went out more cautiously under the floodlights in the fast-darkening afternoon, tapping her ski poles together four times in the start hut before setting out with 1.04 seconds in hand over then-leader Federica Brignone.
The lead was cut to 0.57 seconds midway down the slope before Shiffrin skied cleanly in sections where Brignone’s aggressive pushing had…
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