KVITFJELL, Norway—American skier Mikaela Shiffrin finished in fourth place in a World Cup super-G on Friday and missed out on a record-tying 86th career victory.
Shiffrin was the ninth starter and trailed then-leader Elena Curtoni of Italy by 0.15 seconds. The race was eventually won by Cornelia Huetter of Austria, who edged Curtoni by a mere 0.01 seconds.
Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland trailed by 0.12 seconds in third.
Shiffrin needs one victory to match Ingemar Stenmark ’s total victories on the all-time list. The Swede competed in the 1970s and 80s.
“I felt very good with my skiing,” Shiffrin said. “Obviously it’s quite tight so I'll just see if I can maybe get a little bit more (the next race) but not go overboard.”
Shiffrin’s next race is a downhill on Saturday. She previously missed a chance to tie the record when she finished runner-up in a slalom in the Czech Republic in January.
Shiffrin broke a tie on the all-time women’s win list with former American teammate Lindsey Vonn in January. Vonn had 82 wins when she retired in 2019.
On Friday, the American was the fastest starter and led Curtoni by 0.37 seconds at the first intermediate time. Without making apparent mistakes, however, the American lost just over a tenth of a second at each following split.
Shiffrin smiled and briefly waved at spectators after her run.
“It’s actually so fun to ski. This track is amazing,” Shiffrin said. “The surface is breaking a little bit. So I feel quite lucky that, for the draw, I was in a pretty good spot with my bib. I could push everywhere.”
The Olympiabakken course hosted women’s races for the first time in 20 years. The resort, where the speed events were held at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics, is an annual stop on the men’s World Cup circuit.
Finishing behind Gut-Behrami left Shiffrin also waiting for her fifth overall World Cup title. Shiffrin leads her last remaining challenger by 761 points with eight races left.
Shiffrin won silver in super-G at the world championships last month. World champion Marta Bassino left Kvitfjell on Thursday and traveled back to Italy for family reasons.
Huetter’s fourth career victory made her the sixth different winner in as many super-G races this World Cup season, joining Shiffrin, Gut-Behrami, Corinne Suter, Federica Brignone, and Ragnhild Mowinckel.
Curtoni has not yet won a race but still went to the top of the discipline standings.
Sofia Goggia narrowly avoided a crash when she lost balance on a jump halfway through her run.
Goggia led the final downhill training Thursday. The 2018 Olympic champion could wrap up the season-long downhill title Saturday for a third time in a row and a fourth time overall.
