SESTRIERE, Italy – The beautiful day in Italy produced a fantastic race. It also created the second two-time SL winner of the year. Switzerland Wendy Holdener does it again. Holdener, 2nd on the first run, skied at a higher level than her competition on the second. Strong and balanced, she attacked the bottom and left no doubt about who was the best of the day. 

Holdener improved on her second position after the opening run to triumph in Sestriere. Finishing 0.47 seconds ahead of Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States and 0.70 ahead of first-run leader Petra Vlhová.

“It is amazing. I can believe it, but it is unreal I guess. My second run was the best run I showed in a race actually,” Holdener said.

The 29-year-old Holdener was the surprise joint winner in Killington, Vermont, last month along with Anna Swenn Larsson. It was Holdener’s first slalom victory after finishing on the podium 30 times for the unwanted record of most World Cup podium finishes without a win in the discipline.

Holdener moved joint top of the slalom standings with Shiffrin, who won the two season-opening slalom races. She also moved into second overall, 19 points behind Shiffrin and 26 points ahead of Vlhová.

When you are great, even your good days are exceptional. That describes Mikaela Shiffrin’s race. Shiffrin moved up one spot to finish second but could not match the performance of Holdener. However, she has bounced back from a frustrating Saturday GS to stand on another podium. 

“I am quite exhausted but I think I had some really good turns and some things to fix for the next slalom,” Shiffrin said. “Anyway, it is a step from Killington and a step in the right direction. It was two really difficult days, there was some really impressive skiing from Wendy (Holdener) and a really impressive weekend from Petra.”

“I had a lot of fatigue from yesterday … You just try to recover the best you can. Today, I am mostly happy with my performance but not really satisfied.”

Petra Vlhova rounds out the Allstar podium. The first-run leader is currently struggling to find her second-run form. She clocked the 11th fastest second run time and fell 0.70 seconds behind Holdener on the day. Although she is figuring out her skiing this season, she is good even when she is not great.

Today’s fourth-place finisher, bib 24, Sweden’s Hanna Aronsson Elfman won the second run and moved up 12 positions on the second run. Because she was 16th on the first run, she spent most of her afternoon viewing from the leader’s chair. 

The 19-year-old’s previous best finish in a World Cup race was ninth in the season-opening slalom. She had never finished higher than 15th before this season.

Paula Moltzan had yet to finish a World Cup SL race this year. However, today, she finished fifth. Moltzan skied fast in the first three SLs but struggled to find the bottom of the course. Today she skied the challenging second run with the fourth fastest time. Her second run performance moved her up two positions. It is her third career top-five World Cup result. 

Canadian Ali Nullmeyer continues to show she belongs to the elite. Although her second run was not up to her standards, she finished the day in 11th. It is her fourth finish in the points this year and her best of three top-15 results.

The first North American to ski the second course, Laurence St-Germain, struggled to find speed on the second run but scored her best points of the season. St-Germain finished 26th.

Immediately behind St-Germain in the results is US’s, Zoe Zimmermann. Although unhappy with her second run, she will celebrate her first-ever World Cup points. She can be proud of accomplishing a significant career milestone. Her performance, while expected, is additional proof that US women are rising and becoming a force on the SL tour. 

Zimmermann explains her approach to the day. “I was pretty nervous for the second run but I’m so happy that I finished and I’m so happy that I got points today,” said Zimmermann.

Moltzan was also very excited about her individual result, but also the strength that the women’s team showed. “I’m proud of myself and I’m proud of my teammate Zoe,” said Moltzan. “Getting your first points is really hard so to finally cross that threshold is only the beginning for her.”

Analysis of the top five and other North Americans who finished in the point and the days results

December 11th Sestriere SL results

The Associated Press and USST contributed to this report.