Shiffrin lands 98th World Cup win - and a reindeer

American ski star Mikaela Shiffrin has earned her record-extending 98th career World Cup win to give herself the chance to compete for a landmark 100th victory in front of a home crowd.

Regardless of her result in a slalom in Austria next week, Shiffrin could reach the milestone in two races in Killington, Vermont on November 30 and December 1, respectively.

Colorado's two-time Olympic champion can almost consider Killington a hometown race because she honed her skills nearby at the Burke Mountain Academy as a teenager.

On Saturday, Shiffrin dominated the first women's World Cup slalom of the season for win No.98. No other skier, male of female, has won more than 86.

"Amazing way to start the slalom season, I'm super happy," the American said.

She built on a big first-run lead with an aggressive yet controlled second run down the Levi Black course to beat 2021 slalom world champion Katharina Liensberger of Austria by 0.79 seconds.

Lena Duerr, of Germany, dropped from second to third, 0.83 behind Shiffrin, and was the last skier to finish less than a second off the lead.

Croatian prodigy Zrinka Ljutic third after the opening run, lost three spots.

Olympic champion Petra Vlhova, Shiffrin's biggest rival in slalom, sat out the race as the Slovakian needed more to time to recover from knee surgery last season.

Shiffrin has triumphed in the last five slaloms she competed in and she's now won a record eight times in the traditional season-opening slalom in Finnish Lapland, where the winner is given a reindeer as a prize.

Asked about a name for her reindeer, Shiffrin said she would "check with the team and my teammates and see what everybody says."