Mikaela Shiffrin wins 2nd straight World Cup overall title

Mikaela Shiffrin won her second straight World Cup overall title on Friday with a third-place finish in a giant slalom race in Germany.

The three-time Olympic medalist did so with five races left in the World Cup season.

Even before her final run in Friday’s giant slalom event, the 22-year-old American ski star was already guaranteed of winning the title. That’s because Swiss skier Wendy Holdener, her closest competitor and only remaining rival for the title, failed to finish in the top two to stay in contention.

The race was won by Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway.

Shiffrin won gold in the giant slalom and silver in the combined event at last month’s PyeongChang Olympics. She previously won gold in slalom, her strongest discipline, at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

The Vail, Colorado, native joins Lindsey Vonn as the only other American female skier to win multiple overall World Cup titles. Vonn has four overall titles, winning in 2008-10 and 2012.

Shiffrin is also on pace to win the World Cup slalom title, something she also did in 2013-15 and 2017. She holds a 175-point lead over Petra Vlhova of Slovakia with two races left in the season.

The season-ending World Cup finals will take place next week in Are, Sweden.