American star Mikaela Shiffrin cemented her place among the greats of alpine skiing as she won Olympic slalom gold in emphatic fashion.
Twelve years on from winning the title in Sochi aged 18, Shiffrin stormed to victory with an overall time of 1:39:10, an extraordinary 1.50 seconds ahead of second place to become a three-time Olympic champion.
The 30-year-old put herself in pole position with a time of 47.13secs in the first run at Olimpia delle Tofane, a gap of 0.82secs to second-place Lena Duerr.
The German was the only skier to finish within one second of Shiffrin but she straddled the first gate on her second run to put herself out of medal contention.
That left Shiffrin with what was ultimately an exhibition run to take gold and she completed the run in 51.97secs.
Switzerland’s Camille Rast claimed silver while Sweden’s Anna Swenn Larsson took bronze.
Seven-time world champion Shiffrin appeared to be in disbelief as she initially crossed the line but eventually crouched on her skis with her head in her hands before fist pumping towards the crowd.
Although the margin of victory this time was significant, things had not gone to plan for her until now in Cortina.
She finished 11th in the giant slalom and an agonising fourth in the team event alongside Olympic downhill champion Breezy Johnson.
In fact, since her giant slalom gold in Pyeongchang 2018, which followed slalom gold in Sochi 2014, the Olympics have simply not been a happy hunting ground for Shiffrin.
Four years ago in Beijing she crashed out of both the giant slalom and slalom events just seconds into her run, completing six races but returning home without a medal.
But the most decorated alpine skier of all time cruised to victory this time and put years of Olympic anguish behind her to deliver on the big stage.
