(Reuters) – Mikaela Shiffrin claimed the overall World Cup title with two races to spare when she took second place in the final super-G of the season in Courchevel, France, on Thursday.
The American opened an unassailable 236-point lead at the top of the standings over second-place Petra Vlhova of Slovakia, who finished in 17th place outside the points.
Shiffrin, who now has four overall World Cup titles to her name and three Olympic medals, recovered from a disappointing outing in the Beijing Winter Games to finish the season in style.
The 27-year-old unexpectedly won Wednesday’s downhill to take a major step towards winning the overall title, which she secured with a precise performance on Thursday.
She finished just 0.05 seconds behind race winner Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway, who clocked one minute 13.68 seconds.
Swiss Michelle Gisin was third, 0.13 seconds off the pace.
Shiffrin, who won three consecutive overall World Cup titles from 2017-19, is now level with fellow American Lindsey Vonn on four, two shy of the women’s record of Austrian Annemarie Moser-Proell, winner from 1971-75 and in 1979.
Another Austrian, Marcel Hirscher, holds the record with eight titles in a row from 2012-19.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Davis)
