SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria (Reuters) – U.S. team mates Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn, the two most successful female World Cup Alpine skiers of all time, can add to their records at the world championships starting in Saalbach on Tuesday.
Shiffrin, with an unmatched 99 World Cup wins to her credit, will become the most decorated world championship skier if she can add two more to her tally of 14 which includes a record seven golds.
Germany’s Christl Kranz won 15 medals between 1934-39 when championships were held annually.
Shiffrin is already the most decorated American world championship skier and has won gold at the last six championships, the sport’s biggest event outside of the Winter Olympics.
The 29-year-old is coming back from injury, however, and finished 10th in a night slalom last week after a two-month absence caused by a crash in a giant slalom race in Killington, Vermont. She has sounded uncertain about her form.
“It’s very much a step-by-step process, and this return to competition is part of the recovery,” she said after that race in Courchevel.
“It actually doesn’t even mean I’m recovered or I’m back to 100%. It means that we’ve gotten far enough in the recovery now that I’m strong enough physically, and I’ve had enough turns of slalom, to feel comfortable to push out of the start gate.”
Another slalom gold would be record fifth in the discipline for the American.
Vonn, coming out of retirement at the age of 40 with an eye on next year’s Milan-Cortina Olympics, is already the oldest female skier to medal at a world championships — a 2019 downhill bronze at age 34 that took her tally to eight.
The 82 times World Cup race winner finished fourth in a Super-G race in St. Anton, Austria, last month and sixth in a downhill in the same resort.
She and Shiffrin could feature together in the new team combined event on Feb. 11 but both Americans face strong opponents who are on form and fancy their chances.
Croatia’s Zrinka Lutic has won three of the last four World Cup slaloms and is a former world junior champion in the discipline.
Italy’s Federica Brignone and Sofia Goggia, the 2018 Olympic downhill champion, will be leading contenders in the speed disciplines.
Swiss all-rounder Marco Odermatt is the standout skier on the men’s side and is bidding to defend his downhill and giant slalom titles from 2023.
A total of 11 golds are up for grabs at the 13-day championships that end on Feb. 16 and start with a team parallel event.
(Writing by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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