Austria's Schild tops Shiffrin, nabs record 35th World Cup slalom win
Marlies Schild set a World Cup record by earning her 35th slalom victory Sunday, overtaking Switzerland's Vreni Schneider on top of the all-time list in the discipline.
Schild was sixth after the opening leg but used a blistering second run to finish in 1 minute, 55.63 seconds and beat American teenager Mikaela Shiffrin, who led the competition after the first run. Shiffrin finished 0.41 seconds behind.
Olympic slalom champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany was third, 0.63 behind Schild.
"It was tough for me," Schild said. "I had not a good feeling in the first run. In the second, my skiing felt really well and I just tried to point my skis down."
The 32-year-old Schild is a four-time World Cup slalom champion, but she missed a host of races after breaking a leg in 2008 and then tore ligaments last year. That meant she was stuck on 33 slalom wins for close to two years until winning in Courchevel, France, this month.
"My 34th win was a weight off my shoulders," Schild said. "Suddenly everything got easier in training though racing is still something different."
The victory was Schild's 54th career podium in slalom. She now ties fellow Austrian Annemarie Moser-Proell (downhill) for the second most podiums in one discipline. Only Renate Goetschl has more, with 59 top-three finishes in downhill.
Shiffrin lost the chance to become the youngest winner of five slaloms in one calendar year.
"I am happy with a podium," Shiffrin said, adding "it's a bit disappointing" to lose her first-run lead after failing to find her rhythm in the second."
In two years since getting her first podium here in 2011, Shiffrin has 12 top-three finishes including five wins.
Shiffrin maintained her lead in the slalom standings with 202 points, two clear of Schild. Hoefl-Riesch went top of the overall standings.
Many racers struggled with the rainy conditions, with Maria Pietilae-Holmner of Sweden and Kathrin Zettel of Austria, who were second and third respectively after the opening run, failing to finish.
