Cite me one female skier who even comes close to her 77 World Cup victories...and this is in an era when skiing has not only become more competitive in skills but in the equipment being used. When you consider that a first place podium time is only .9 seconds faster than the 10th place skier, the equipment and it's tuning is likely 90% of the final time.
What's remarkable about her record is the number of WC events she had missed due to the extreme injuries she has sustained over the years but yet overcame.........Without those injuries there is no question that she would have exceeded Stenmark's victories.......
Stenmark is a good case in point. He's certainly a legend, but I don't think he's even among the top 10 male alpine skiers. In addition to simply having a longer career than most, he was a lot like Alberto Tomba in that didn't even compete in the speed events for most of his career.
The best male alpine skier of all time was Pirmin Zurbriggen -- hands down. He "only" had 40 World Cup victories, but he won four overall World Cup titles and competed in all of the alpine disciplines. At the age of 21 he became the first man ever to win races in all of the disciplines, and his career numbers aren't as high as some others because he was only 27 years old when he retired after winning his fourth overall title.