Andorran Skier Carla Mijares Scores Historic 18th in World Cup Slalom

Andorran skier Carla Mijares secured a historic 18th place in the women's World Cup slalom in Semmering, Austria, delivering Andorra's best-ever result in a women's circuit race.

The 18-year-old, competing in her fifth World Cup slalom with bib number 52, posted a combined time of 1:55.29, finishing 6.47 seconds behind winner Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States (1:48.82). Shiffrin took gold ahead of Switzerland's Camille Rast, second at 0.09 back, and Albania's Lara Colturi in third at 0.57.

Starting 24th after the first run with a time of 59.39 (+4.69 off Rast's 54.70) on a demanding night course marked by tough conditions and wide time gaps, Mijares qualified for her first-ever second run. She lost just +0.98 in the opening sector, then over a second in each subsequent split.

Her second-run start faced a brief delay for gate repairs, heightening tension. After an early slight deviation, she stayed under two seconds behind through all splits, conceding only +0.05 in the final sector. Her 55.90 marked the provisional best of the run and the 17th-fastest partial time (+2.32 off Shiffrin), lifting her six places to 18th.

The result earned Mijares her first 13 World Cup points and places her 38th in the slalom standings. It eclipses the previous national women's best: Vicky Grau's 19th in Park City in 1998 and Mireia Gutiérrez's 20th in Zagreb in 2015.

After the race, Mijares said she entered determined to stay error-free and present throughout. "The first run was tricky, but I knew I had to stay on top of my skis the whole time, and we managed it," she noted, adding that despite nerves in her debut second run amid changing snow and course conditions, "I didn't shrink from it—I went out with grit and got the result."