Mikaela Shiffrin Completes Best-Ever Worlds With Slalom Bronze

Mikaela Shiffrin displays her haul of 4 medals after the FIS World Ski Championships Women's Slalom on Feb. 20, 2021 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

A fifth consecutive slalom world championship wasn’t in the cards for Mikaela Shiffrin Saturday in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. But with a bronze medal, she still had her best world championships ever and staked a claim to being the most successful women’s skier at worlds in modern history.
That medal was the 11th of Shiffrin’s decorated career, tying her with Sweden’s Anja Parson for the most by a woman in the modern era of standalone world championships. With a win, Shiffrin could have also tied Parson’s record of seven gold medals. But after placing fourth in the first run, Shiffrin had too much ground to make up to catch Austria’s Katharina Liensberger.
Liensberger was the fastest skier in both runs, and won her first career slalom world title by one second over Petra Vlhova of Slovakia. Shiffrin finished 1.98 seconds back. The podium is the same top three as the world cup standings, where Vlhova ranks first, Liensberger second and Shiffrin third.
Besides Saturday’s bronze, Shiffrin takes home a gold medal in combined, a silver medal in giant slalom and a bronze medal in super-G. The four medals are the most ever for Shiffrin at a single world championships. With her gold medal in combined, her first in that event of her career, she set the American record for most career gold medals at the world championships with six, and also for total medals overall.
The world championships conclude Sunday with men’s slalom. For the women, world cup season resumes Feb. 26 in Val di Fassa, Italy, with downhill and super-G events.