St. Moritz (Switzerland) (AFP) - Mikaela Shiffrin claimed her 77th World Cup victory in Sunday's Super-G race in St.Moritz to close in on the record for overall women's victories of fellow American Lindsey Vonn.
The two-time Olympic gold medallist and reigning overall World Cup champion edged Italian Elena Curtoni by 0.12sec with France's Romane Miradoli third at 0.40sec.
The 27-year-old from Colorado has returned to success in Super-G, nearly three years after her last victory in the discipline, claiming her third win of the season after Levi's two slaloms.
She is approaching the women's record of 82 World Cup victories set by Vonn, who retired in 2019, and is also on track for the 86 World Cup victories of Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark.
"That was the best run I could possibly have," said Shiffrin, who claimed her fifth Super-G victory and first since January 2020.
"I don't know if it felt perfect, but what I've learned over the years in super-G is that you can't really do it perfect.
"You have to push so hard that maybe there's going to be one mistake or one spot where you almost don't make it, and that's how my run was."
It was Shiffrin's fifth podium in the discipline in St.Moritz.
Specialist in the technical disciplines -- giant and slalom -- Shiffrin returned to speed events in St.Moritz this weekend competing in both the downhills and Super-G.
She finished sixth in Friday's downhill and fourth on Saturday in a race dominated by Italian Sofia Goggia, who placed fifth Sunday in the Super-G.
After a good first part of the race, Shiffrin built her success in the second half of the course, after starting in seventh position.
Curtoni, 31, was close to the leading time but a mistake on the final jump cost her a second victory of the weekend after her triumph in Friday's shortened downhill before fog descended on the Swiss Alps.
"I knew I needed a lot of tactics and technique but I also needed to push," Curtoni said.
"I think I've tried in the best way even though the lines were not perfect on the steep and the last jump was sketchy."
Victorious in her only World Cup race in the Super-G of Lenzerheide last March, Miradoli salvaged a third World Cup podium, after two disappointing downhill races this weekend.
Shiffrin leads the general classification of the World Cup this season with 575 points, ahead of Goggia (470) and Swiss Wendy Holdener (376).
Barring injury, the American will be favourite at the World Championships in Courchevel-Meribel, France from February 5-19.
She has the opportunity to increase her World Cup tally in Semmering, Austria, where two giants will be run, including the rescheduled Soelden event and a slalom from December 27-29.
