Shiffrin secures slalom title

OFTERSCHWANG, Germany: American ski queen Mikaela Shiffrin secured the World Cup slalom title for a fifth time after winning at Ofterschwang on Saturday.

The 23-year-old holds an unassailable lead over Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova with one race of her favoured discipline to go next week. Shiffrin disappointed in fourth in the slalom at last month’s Pyeongchang Olympics but still left South Korea with gold in the giant slalom and silver in the combined. On Friday, she took third in the giant slalom at the German ski resort to retain her overall World Cup crystal globe in what she has described as “her incredible season”. The skier from Colorado, who turns 23 on Tuesday, annexed her 11th World Cup win of the season chiefly at the expense of Swiss rival Wendy Holdener and Frida Hansdotter of Sweden.