Mikaela Shiffrin glides through tricky course to grab 1st-run lead in slalom at World Cup finals

SUN VALLEY, Idaho (AP) - Mikaela Shiffrin grabbed the first-run slalom lead by rhythmically gliding through a tricky course Thursday at the World Cup finals.

The American ski racing standout finished in a time of 52.05 seconds. Shiffrin has a 0.59-second advantage over Lena Duerr of Germany heading into the final run. Everyone else in the field trails by more than a second.

Shiffrin charged through the course at Sun Valley with a large crowd cheering her on at the bottom. It's been an injury-marred season for Shiffrin, who's competing in her only event at finals.

The 30-year-old Shiffrin has missed four slalom races this season that’s taken her out of the running to capture a third straight crystal globe in the discipline. But she can still earn a second- or third-place finish with a strong final run, along with some help.

Croatian ski racer Zrinka Ljutic has the lead in the season-long slalom title race. She finished the first run in 12th place and 1.99 seconds behind Shiffrin’s time. The 21-year-old Ljutic captured last season's "rising star" award and is showing that talent ahead of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics. Camille Rast of Switzerland was in 14th position after the first run. She’s 41 points behind Ljutic in the slalom standings.

For Shiffrin, the end of a painful season is drawing to a close. She’s worked her way back from a serious giant slalom crash in Killington, Vermont, in late November, where she suffered a deep puncture wound that caused severe trauma to her oblique muscles. The crash led to emotional trauma, too, leaving her with post-traumatic stress disorder in the GS.

This season has also included a memorable milestone for Shiffrin when she won her 100th World Cup race during a slalom in Italy on Feb. 23.

On Thursday, in anticipation of Shiffrin possibly winning World Cup race No. 101, there were kids in the crowd dressed in puppy outfits - a nod to Disney’s "101 Dalmatians."

When she takes the slalom course, any slalom course, Shiffrin’s been tough to beat. She’s won three of the five World Cup slalom races she's been in this season.

Over her career, Shiffrin has finished first, second or third in a World Cup slalom race in 88 of 117 starts, which is a 75.2% podium rate. She's won 63 times - a 53.8% victory rate.