Mikaela Shiffrin's slalom domination reaching new heights during the Olympic season

COURCHEVEL, France (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin isn't just winning every slalom of the Olympic season. She's winning them by an average of more than 1.5 seconds — an eternity in ski racing.

The American skiing standout claimed a record-extending 105th World Cup victory after several of her top challengers went out during a night race Tuesday.

Shiffrin added to her first-run lead to finish 1.55 seconds ahead of Swiss skier Camille Rast and 1.71 ahead of German racer Emma Aicher.

Shiffrin has now won the opening four slaloms of the season — and five straight including the final race of last season.

All of her margins of victory this season have topped a full second — and three of them more than 1.5 seconds: 1.66 in Levi Finland; 1.23 in Gurgl, Austria; and 1.57 in Copper Mountain, Colorado before her latest performance in the French Alps.

Do the math and the average margin is 1.5025 seconds.

“I’m just pushing. I’m not asking questions. Sometimes you just got to take it and roll with it,” Shiffrin said. “Lock in this feeling.”

Lena Duerr, the German who stood third after the first run, went off course early in her second trip down.

Lara Colturi, the Italian-born skier who races for Albania, straddled a gate toward the end of her opening run — ending a streak of three consecutive slalom podiums.

Wendy Holdener managed a seventh-place finish despite a mishap at the end of her first run.

Holdener hit a hole in the finish area, got flipped up into the air and landed on her back. After grimacing in pain for a few moments, she got up and walked away. It wasn’t immediately clear if she was injured but she competed in the second run.

Defending World Cup slalom champion Zrinka Ljutic and Olympic silver medalist Katharina Liensberger, the next two starters, went out midway down.

It’s the third straight slalom that Ljutic has failed to finish.

Katharina Truppe of Austria finished fourth and American skier Paula Moltzan moved up from ninth to fifth with the fastest second run.

Shiffrin earned her 68th World Cup slalom win. She also won gold in slalom at the 2014 Sochi Olympics — then took gold in giant slalom four years later at the Pyeongchang Games.

But Shiffrin didn't medal at the 2022 Beijing Games.

Women’s Alpine skiing at the Feb. 6-22 Olympics will be held in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy — where Shiffrin won four medals in her four events at the 2021 world championships and where Lindsey Vonn holds the record of 12 World Cup victories.

Vonn, who won a downhill last week at age 41, no longer competes in slalom.

Vonn will be back in action this weekend for a downhill and a super-G in nearby Val d’Isere.

Rast recovered from a mistake midway down her second run to earn the sixth podium of her career.

Aicher, who also won a downhill last weekend, is one of the few skiers competing in all four events.

Rast and Aicher moved up to third and fourth in the overall standings, respectively.

Shiffrin leads the overall with 558 points, followed by Alice Robinson (394), Rast (343) and Aicher (319).

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin celebrates winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Courchevel, France, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin competes in an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Courchevel, France, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Switzerland's Camille Rast celebrates at the finish area of an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Courchevel, France, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin, left, winner of an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, and Germany's Emma Aicher, third-placed, congratulate each other at the finish area, in Courchevel, France, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin celebrates winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Courchevel, France, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Albania's Lara Colturi competes in an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Courchevel, France, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin competes in an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Courchevel, France, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin competes in an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Courchevel, France, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin competes in an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Courchevel, France, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced Tuesday it was expanding travel restrictions to an additional 20 countries and the Palestinian Authority, doubling the number of nations affected by sweeping limits announced earlier this year on who can travel and emigrate to the U.S.

The Trump administration included five more countries as well as people traveling on documents issued by the Palestinian Authority to the list of countries facing a full ban on travel to the U.S. and imposed new limits on 15 other countries.

The move is part of ongoing efforts by the administration to tighten U.S. entry standards for travel and immigration, in what critics say unfairly prevents travel for people from broad range of countries. The administration suggested it would expand the restrictions after the arrest of an Afghan national suspect in the shooting of two National Guard troops over Thanksgiving weekend.

People who already have visas, are lawful permanent residents of the U.S. or have certain visa categories such as diplomats or athletes, or whose entry into the country is believed to serve the U.S. interest are all exempt from the restrictions. It was not immediately clear when the new restrictions would take effect.

In June, President Donald Trump announced that citizens of 12 countries would be banned from coming to the United States and those from seven others would face restrictions. The decision resurrected a hallmark policy of his first term.

At the time the ban included Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen and heightened restrictions on visitors from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

On Tuesday, the Republican administration announced it was expanding the list of countries whose citizens are banned from entering the U.S. to Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria. The administration also fully restricted travel on people with Palestinian-Authority-issued travel documents, the latest U.S. travel restriction against Palestinians. South Sudan was also facing significant travel restrictions already.

An additional 15 countries are also being added to the list of countries facing partial restrictions: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Ivory Coast, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The restrictions apply to both people seeking to travel to the U.S. as visitors or to emigrate there.

The Trump administration said in its announcement that many of the countries from which it was restricting travel had “widespread corruption, fraudulent or unreliable civil documents and criminal records” that made it difficult to vet their citizens for travel to the U.S.

It also said some countries had high rates of people overstaying their visas, refused to take back their citizens who the U.S. wished to deport or had a “general lack of stability and government control,” which made vetting difficult. It also cited immigration enforcement, foreign policy and national security concerns for the move.

The Afghan man accused of shooting the two National Guard troops near the White House has pleaded not guilty to murder and assault charges. In the aftermath of that incident, the administration announced a flurry of immigration restrictions, including further restrictions on people from those initial 19 countries who were already in the U.S.

The news of the expanding travel ban is likely to face fierce opposition from critics who have argued that the administration is using national security concerns to collectively keep out people from a wide range of countries.

“This expanded ban is not about national security but instead is another shameful attempt to demonize people simply for where they are from," said Laurie Ball Cooper, Vice President of U.S. Legal Programs at the International Refugee Assistance Project.

The Trump administration also upgraded restrictions on some countries — Laos and Sierra Leone — that previously were on the partially restricted list and in one case — Turkmenistan — said the country had improved enough to warrant easing some restrictions on travelers from that country. Everything else from the previous travel restrictions announced in June remains in place, the administration said.

The new restrictions on Palestinians comes months after the administration imposed limits that make it nearly impossible for anyone holding a Palestinian Authority passport from receiving travel documents to visit the U.S. for business, work, pleasure or educational purposes. The announcement Tuesday goes further, banning people with Palestinian Authority passports from emigrating to the U.S.

In justifying its decision Tuesday, the administration said several “U.S.-designated terrorist groups operate actively in the West Bank or Gaza Strip and have murdered American citizens.” The administration also said that the recent war in those areas had “likely resulted in compromised vetting and screening abilities."

President Donald Trump speaks during a Mexican Border Defense Medal presentation in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)