Olympic champ Mikaela Shiffrin golden again, wins World Cup slalom race

Mikaela Shiffrin is atop the podium again.

The Olympic slalom champion won the first World Cup race in the discipline since the Milano Cortina Games on Sunday, March 15. Even with a small bobble near the end of the course, Shiffrin finished 0.94 seconds ahead of Emma Aicher of Germany for her 109th World Cup victory.

Shiffrin has already secured the season slalom title, but this win was key because it extended her lead over Aicher in the overall race. Shiffrin has 1,286 points, 140 more than Aicher, going into the World Cup finals that begin next week in Lillehammer, Norway.

After Shiffrin crossed the finish line, she and Aicher saluted each other.

"There’s still some pushing to do. Like you can see, Emma is skiing just incredible in every event, so I try to stay (with that) fighting spirit," Shiffrin said.

Wendy Holdener of Switzerland finished third, a second behind Shiffrin. Americans Paula Moltzan was fifth and A.J. Hurt was 14th.

Shiffrin's dominance in slalom this season has been remarkable. She won eight of the nine World Cup races, and finished second in the other, and her victories were often by wide margins. At the Olympics, where she won the third gold of her career, Shiffrin won by a whopping 1.5 seconds. It was the largest margin of victory since 1998.

"Maybe toward end of the season, it’s been simplicity. I don’t actually know," Shiffrin said when asked to explain her success this season. "... We really want to fight through the final races and have a really good energy and spirit."