Mikaela Shiffrin.Photo: Alain Grosclaude/Agence Zoom/Getty
There’s a new queen of the slopes: American alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin broke former teammateLindsey Vonn’s World Cup wins record with her 83rd career victory Tuesday on Kronplatz Mountain in Northern Italy.
“I don’t know if I can add something,” she said after the conquest. “It might take me a little bit to figure out what to say.”
According to theAssociated Press, Shiffrin posted the fastest first run, which meant she was then the last skier to race in the second run.
“I was a bit nervous for the second run, but mostly, I hate waiting,” Shiffrin said. “Finally, when it was time to go, then it was like everything went quiet, and I just pushed as hard as I could every turn. It was pretty amazing to come through the finish and see that I was quite fast. Because I could hear that the other athletes were skiing well. I thought, ‘I could lose this, so I better try to ski a really good run.’ And it was.”
The AP reported that Shiffrin seemed tired and relieved after finishing, bending over and resting her head on her poles, then biting her lips before going over to hug Gut-Behrami and Brignone.
Brignone told Shiffrin, “Congrats,” and Shiffrin responded, “Oh my God.”
The AP reported that she sang along to the words of the National Anthem when it was played before she was adorned with a gold-colored crown.
Mikaela Shiffrin.Alain Grosclaude/Agence Zoom/Getty
Vonn, who retired four years ago after a spate of injuries, congratulated Shiffrin on the feat.
“Reaching this milestone is an incredible accomplishment, one that I hope Mikaela is able to savor,“Vonn said in a statementafter her record was broken. “Picabo Street inspired me to become an Olympian and I remember vividly how much of an impact she made on me. Throughout my career I always tried to be the role model for kids that Picabo was for me, and now it is Mikaela’s turn to carry that torch.”
TheColorado native, who moved to New Hampshire and trains in Vermont, is now officially the all-time winningest World Cup female skier, and she is on track to beat Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark’s all-time World Cup record of 86 victories with three more wins. Stenmark’s record has held since 1989, when he secured 86 wins at age 32.
Stenmark told theOlympics Channelthat he believes Shiffrin “will win more than 100” races.
“And it doesn’t make me sad at all,” he said.
RELATED VIDEO: Mikaela Shiffrin Gets Support from Simone Biles as She Gets Candid About Olympic Struggles
Shiffrin got her start professionally at 15, and was the youngest skier to win a national alpine title in 2011.
So far, she has scored 237 World Cup starts, 131 World Cup podiums, and 83 World Cup victories. She has clinched 51 World Cup slalom wins, 18 World Cup GS wins, 5 World Cup Super-G wins, 5 World Cup Parallel triumphs, 3 World Cup Downhill victories and 1 World Cup Alpine Combined win.
Shiffrin’s win comes less than a year after shewon her fourth World Cup overall title. Just one month previously, she hadfailed to medalin the Beijing Olympic games.
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
“There were many moments this season that have been very great,” Shiffrin said at the time, perNBC Sports.“But there’s also been some very low moments. It’s the lowest I’ve ever felt in my career, in my life as well. Not just skiing, but as a human, there’s been moments where I feel the weight of everything so much that it’s just a terrible feeling.”
Continued Shiffrin, “After the Olympics, [the overall] was the final goal that was still possible to achieve. It felt like all the biggest goals I had this season, I didn’t do anything. Now this is very special.”
source: people.com
