DENVER (KDVR) — Mikaela Shiffrin has done it. The 27-year-old skier who calls Edwards, Colorado home has passed Ingemar Stenmark’s record of 86 career World Cup wins, which she tied on Friday.
It’s already been a historic season for Shiffrin. Earlier this year she tied and then broke the women’s record of 82 World Cup victories and has continued to extend that mark in the weeks since.
Shiffrin’s first appearance on a FIS World Cup podium came in 2011 when she finished third in the slalom at Lienz, Austria on Dec. 29.
Less than a year later, on Dec. 20, 2012, she was on top of the podium for the first time after winning the slalom at Are, Sweden.
That makes this win all the more special. Her 86th and 87th victories came at the same mountain where she claimed her first.
While Slalom, which accounted for 52 of her 86 wins going into Saturday, has been her most successful discipline, Shiffrin also has 20 wins in giant slalom, five in parallel, five in super-G, three in downhill and one victory in combined.
These wins coming in Sweden is even more notable as she ties Stenmark’s record in his home country.
“She’s much better than I was. You cannot compare,” Stenmark said in an interview with The Associated Press last month. “She has everything. She has good physical strength, she has a good technique, strong head. I think it’s the combination of everything makes her so good. And I’m also impressed that she can ski good both in slalom and in super-G and downhill also.
Shiffrin shows just as much reverence for Stenmark as he does for her.
“I would say the name means more than the number,” she said of Stenmark. “He’s an absolute legend in skiing. And no matter what I achieve, this kind of term, ‘the greatest of all time’ or the numbers — all that for me, it’s something that’s debatable.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.