Mikaela Shiffrin ended 2023 with a standout performance even by her standards, winning a World Cup slalom race on Friday by a huge margin of 2.34 seconds for her 93rd career win.
The American set by far the fastest times in both runs on the Schlossberg course, finishing ahead of number two Lena Duerr from Germany. Swiss skier Michelle Gisin was 0.11 further back in third place.
“Today was a very special day for me. I felt perfect on the skis, so I'm super happy,” said Shiffrin, who also won the giant slalom on the same hill on Thursday. “It's a very nice feeling now.”
Friday's result was the seventh-largest winning margin ever in a women's World Cup slalom. Shiffrin set four of those other marks, including the record of 3.07 seconds during a race in Aspen, Colorado, in November 2015.
Her American teammate Paula Moltzan, who finished second after the opening race, straddled a fence and did not complete her final run.
Shiffrin's main rival in the slalom, Olympic champion Petra Vlhova, finished 3.24 seconds behind in fifth place. The Slovak defeated Shiffrin last week during a night slalom in France.
Seeking a record-extending 56th career victory from 107 slalom starts, Shiffrin dominated the opening run for Moltzan and positioned himself for a second victory in two days.
Shiffrin had a flawless first run on the Schlossberg course, leading Moltzan by a huge margin of 1.14 seconds.
Shiffrin also took a big lead in Thursday's GS, when she used a rather conservative second run to secure her record-extending 92nd career win. But this time there was no stopping the afternoon, despite the busy program this week.
“It's definitely a push today,” Shiffrin said after the first run. “I trained for the last four days and went straight into the race yesterday, so I knew today if it was six days in a row, it might get a bit tiring. But I wanted to feel comfortable while skiing.”
Moltzan posted the fastest time in the opening section, even beating Shiffrin by 0.07, but was slowed midway through her run as she leaned back and her ski tips went into the air before quickly regaining her rhythm.
Moltzan initially extended her lead over Duerr in the final point, before losing time on the following splits. At the end of her run, she straddled a fence.
Shiffrin and Moltzan finished 1-2 in a slalom a year ago to the day at another Austrian resort: Semmering. It was the first result for American women in more than 51 years.
The Women's World Cup continues on January 6 and 7 with a GS and a slalom in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.