After surpassing alpine skiing legend Lindsey Vonn’s record, Mikaela Shiffrin is now closer to breaking Ingemar Stenmark’s massive record. Winning her 86th World Cup title on 10th March 2023, Shiffrin equaled the Swedish skier’s 86 world cup wins. With this win, Shiffrin outperformed Stenmark by winning the World Cup in lesser time, surging ahead of Ingemar by 4 years, 9 months, and 16 days. A newsfeed named AP news disclosed intriguing details of how these two alpine skiing legends stack up against each other.

The Swedish skier achieved a record of 86 career wins more than 30 years ago in 1989. The different eras in which both alpine skiing legends competed makes their comparison even more interesting. While Stenmark’s first World Cup season during 1973-74 had 21 races lined up, Shiffrin’s present season has more than 30 races scheduled. Differences in ski designs and alterations in ski courses transformed skiing in the present era. How do these two legends compare? Read on to find out!

Mikaela Shiffrin and Ingemar Stenmark match up

According to AP news, while Stenmark achieved his 86th win at the age of 32, Shiffrin accomplished this feat at the age of 27. Further, the report indicates that while Stenmark took 15 years, 2 months, and 11 days to accomplish 86 victories, it took Shiffrin 11 years, 11 months, and 27 days to win 86 World Cup races.

With this, the report also pointed out an interesting fact that all the victories achieved by Stenmark were in slalom and giant slalom. Compared to him, Shiffrin not only won in giant slalom and slalom categories but also in other categories such as super-6, parallel, downhill, and combined. An important fact to be considered here is that the super-g and the event that includes downhill skiing along with the two-leg slalom were a part of alpine skiing competitions much later, post the 1960s.

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Further, the report elaborated that Stenmark won 46 giant slalom titles and 40 slalom titles. On the other hand, Shiffrin has won 52 slalom titles and 20 giant slalom titles. With this, she also won five super-G titles, five titles in the parallel category, three titles in the downhill category, and one title combined according to this report. Clearly, these titles indicate Shiffrin’s versatility in alpine skiing. Recently, Shiffrin also gave her unique take on the fact that she was now being compared with Ingemar Stenmark.

Mikaela Shiffrin reacts to her comparison with Ingemar Stenmark

The alpine skiing champion shared a heartwarming message with her fans in an Instagram post shared on 10th March 2023. Shiffrin captioned the post, “It is the greatest honor of my career to be mentioned in the same sentence as Ingemar Stenmark.” She then remarked how this phenomenon was incomprehensible and unforgettable for her.

After her victory, Shiffrin also gave a special message to Stenmark. Her words as per reports were, “No matter what I do, for me it doesn’t even compare to what you achieved.”  Further, she spoke that what Stenmark had done was special and inspiring. This response clearly indicates Shiffrin’s humility despite her marvelous victory.

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Shiffrin and Stenmark’s comparison indicates their immense contribution to alpine skiing. How are you inspired by Shiffrin’s journey to equal Stenmark’s record? Share your thoughts in the comments section.