Ingemar Stenmark believes that Lindsey Vonn will not be the only skier to surpass his record 86 World Cup wins.
The Swedish legend said that Austrian Marcel Hirscher, now at 55 World Cup wins, will win at least 32 more times to push Stenmark further down the list, according to Kleine Zeitung.
The focus has been on Vonn’s pursuit of Stenmark for the last few years. She’s now at 79 wins, second all-time among men and women, with a pair of victories this season.
Vonn, 33 and expected to race in her final Olympics next month, has said she does not want to retire until she passes Stenmark.
Hirscher, 28 and the six-time reigning World Cup overall champion, might not ski into his mid 30s like Vonn.
He cautioned that he could retire after any season, though Hirscher seems to be at the top of his game this season despite coming back from the most significant injury of his career, a broken ankle in August.
Hirscher, though he hasn’t yet won Olympic gold, already has 10 victories this season, the most of his career. If he stays close to this pace, he would pass Stenmark’s 86 wins before the 2022 Olympics.
Last February, Stenmark told Vonn that if she beats his record, she also must win “Dancing with the Stars,” as Stenmark did on the Swedish version of the show in 2015.
“If you help teach me to dance for the show, it’s a deal,” Vonn told him.
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