Mikaela Shiffrin will have to wait to break the FIS World Cup record for most wins by a woman ©Getty Images

Mikaela Shiffrin will have to wait a little longer to break the record for most wins by a woman in the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) World Cup held by former United States team-mate Lindsey Vonn.

Shiffrin finished second behind Slovakia's Olympic gold medallist Petra Vlhová in a race under the floodlights at tonight's FIS Alpine Ski World Cup slalom event in Austrian resort Flachau.

The American, winner of six of her last seven races, had matched Lindsey Vonn's record of 82 race victories by crossing the line fastest in a giant slalom in Kranjska Gora in Slovenia on Sunday (January 8).

Vlhová clocked the fastest time in the first run and then extended her lead over Shiffrin for her first win this season.

Even the encouragement of Shiffrin's fans, who held up balloons shaped as "8" and "3" to make the figure "83" could not get her over the line.

The 27-year-old Vlhová finished 0.43 seconds ahead of Shiffrin, with Germany’s Lena Duerr of Germany 0.85 back in third.

Fans of Mikaela Shiffrin held up balloons to form the figure
Fans of Mikaela Shiffrin held up balloons to form the figure "83" in anticipation of a record-breaking victory in Flachau but they were to be disappointed ©Getty Images

Shiffrin's next chance to break the record will come in a super-G in Cortina d’Ampezzo, along with Milan, the host of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, on January 20.

She does not plan to compete in the next round of the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, featuring downhill and super G race, in Swiss resort St Anton this Saturday and Sunday (January 14 and 15).

It would be a neat piece of symmetry if Shiffrin were to break Vonn’s record in Cortina as it was there, in 2015, that she set the current mark after surpassing the total of 62 wins established by Austria's Annemarie Moser-Pröll.

It was Vlhová's first win this season after seven podium finishes.

"It was a long, long way to come back [to winning] here," Vlhová said. 

"For me, it’s an amazing day. 

"Thank you to my team, because they are always with me, supporting me, even if I am a little bit back or a little bit down. 

"But we were working hard on it and I’m super happy to win here, because it’s something special."

America's Mikaela Shiffrin, left, Slovakia's Petra Vlhová, centre, and Germany's Lena Duerr, right, topped the podium at the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup in Flachau ©Getty Images
America's Mikaela Shiffrin, left, Slovakia's Petra Vlhová, centre, and Germany's Lena Duerr, right, topped the podium at the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup in Flachau ©Getty Images

Despite her victory, Vlhová still trails Shiffrin in the general classification.

Shiffrin has 1,195 points with Vlhová 399 behind.

Halfway through the season with 19 races out of 38 completed, the 27-year-old Shiffrin is moving inexorably towards a fifth big Crystal Globe.

"I earned a second place and [Vlhová] earned a victory tonight and that was quite a show," Shiffrin said,

"It was a little bit difficult this evening to perform top-top but even then I felt some turns I love to feel. 

"Actually when I am even not on my most top form I am still enjoying skiing, so that’s nice."