Mikaela Shiffrin Clinches 5th World Cup Title; Still Looking to Match 86-Win Record

American skier Mikaela Shiffrin fell short of tying the all-time record for most World Cup race wins Saturday, but she perhaps accomplished something even more significant by clinching her fifth career World Cup title.

According to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN), Shiffrin noted after Saturday's downhill race that winning another World Cup title was her main focus this season:

"That's really amazing. That [overall title] was like the big, big goal for me this season. I had such a big focus on it that I was even talking about it in interviews in the beginning of the season. Normally I don't talk about it so much because it takes a long time to figure out if you can do it."

Shiffrin tied for fifth in the downhill, which still leaves her one win short of tying Ingemar Stenmark's record of 86 career World Cup race wins. She will have another chance to match the mark Sunday when she competes in the super-G.

The 2022-23 season has already been a historic one for Shiffrin, as she surpassed fellow American skier Lindsey Vonn's record of 82 World Cup race wins in January, which was the most all-time by a woman.

Shiffrin remains one race win behind Stenmark for the all-time record for all skiers, but she will have several more opportunities to tie and potentially break it this season.

Remarkably, Shiffrin clinched the World Cup title with seven races to go, which will give her the chance to go for the win in each of the remaining races this season.

By winning the title, Shiffrin moved closer to matching another record, as her five World Cup titles are now just one shy of the most ever by a woman. Annemarie Moser-Proell holds the record with six.

Austria's Marcel Hirscher holds the all-time record for men and women, as he won eight consecutive World Cup titles from 2012 to 2019.

The 27-year-old Shiffrin is already among the most decorated skiers of all time with five World Cup titles, 85 World Cup race wins, three Olympic medals and 14 world championship medals to her credit.

She was expected to leave Beijing with a huge haul of medals at the 2022 Winter Olympics, but that didn't happen, as she didn't win a single medal and failed to finish in three of her six events.

That could have started her on a sharp decline in her career, but Shiffrin bounced back in a huge way this season on the World Cup circuit, and she remains just one race win away from making history.