Vlhova wins Flachau slalom; Shiffrin second

Petra Vlhova. GEPA pictures.

FLACHAU, Austria — Mikaela Shiffrin finished second to Petra Vlhova at a night slalom race Tuesday as she attempted to break the record for most wins on the women’s World Cup circuit.

If you are going to set the all-time women’s World Cup victory record, you should have to beat one of history’s best. That is precisely how it was set up today in Flachau, Austria. Today Mikaela Shiffrin was unable to defeat first-run leader Petra Vlhova. The very accomplished Vlhova took every risk possible to deny Shiffrin her 83 World Cup victory. Today there is no doubt that Vlhova was the best skier in the race. Vlhova has been denied victory all season, but that had to end. January 10th was the day she finished her victory drought.

Vlhova had the fastest time in the first run, then extended her lead over Shiffrin for her first win this season. The Slovakian skier finished 0.43 seconds ahead of Shiffrin, while Lena Duerr of Germany finished 0.85 back in third.

It was Vlhova’s first win this season after seven podium finishes.

“It was a long, long way to come back (to winning) here,” Vlhova said. “For me, it’s an amazing day. Thank you to my team, because they are always with me, supporting me, even if I a little bit back or a little bit down. But we were working hard on it and I’m super happy to win here, because it’s something special.”

Shiffrin’s teammates were holding aloft ballons shaped as an “8” and “3” to form the No. 83 but there was to be no celebration this time as Vlhova, Shiffrin’s biggest rival, enjoyed the moment instead with a large crowd of Slovakian fans that follow her around.

“I don’t feel very well but no matter what Petra skied amazing tonight and deserves this victory,” said Shiffrin. “It was a little difficult this evening to perform but I did feel some turns that were good.”

The Norwegian course setter knew he would not have an athlete contending for a podium. So without a doubt, he designed the course only to produce a dramatic historic finish. However, when you are trying to set a puzzle that is difficult for Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova, you have a challenge. He provided the perfect course and a wonderful ending to the night.

Although Vlhova and Shiffrin finished first and second, the first potential winner to ski was Germany’s Lena Duerr; Duerr skied the fastest 2nd run and showed that she had her nerves in control. To take the lead, she executed a courageous ski to take a 0.69 of a second lead and the leader’s chair. She then watched as the third-fastest skier from the first run, the young Zrinka Ljutic, skied off the course. Then although Shiffrin lost time to Duerr, Shiffrin was able to maintain 0.42 of a second combined margin over Duerr. But no one could stop the hard-charging Vlhova.

USA’s Paula Moltzan didn’t have the first run she was looking for, but the final run was a different story. Moltzan attacked out of the start and never looked back. She used her very fast first and last sectors to cross the finish into first and then move up five positions to finish the day in fifth place.

“I am really happy to end a crazy tech series with a top five in slalom,” said Moltzan. “It feels good to build consistency and have fun while doing it.”

The racer to take the lead from Moltzan was two-time season winner Wendy Holdener of Switzerland. Holdener left no doubt, finishing a combined run 0.61 faster than Moltzan to finish the race in fourth.

The biggest second run move came from Swiss athletes Aline Danioth, who started third for the final run. After crossing the finish into first place, she stayed in the comfort of the leader chair for the next nine racers. She moved up 15 positions and ended the evening in 13th.

Canadians gain positions with second-run excellence

The athlete who finally overtook Danioth was Canadian Ali Nullmeyer. Nullmeyer is world-class but didn’t have a first run up to her standards. During the second run, Nullmeyer found her rhythm and delivered the 10th fastest run to move up seven positions and end the day in 11th.

Canadian Amelia Smart started the final run slowly but gained momentum through the remaining sectors. Smart was able to move up the leaderboard by five racers to finish 17th.

Smart was no doubt disappointed when her teammate and fastest Canadian, who was in seventh, Laurence St-Germain, skied off course and had to hike like her fellow North Americans Nina O’Brien and Liala Lapanja. However, St Germain was able to finish close enough to Vlhova to score points.

North Americans who stumbled during second run

The feel-good story of the first run was about US athlete O’Brien. She showed that her slalom had arrived at a new level. However, while O’Brien was flying on the second run, she had significant difficulty in the third sector. Notably, O’Brien is a fighter and showed it by hiking uphill to legally pass all the gates and finish the course at full speed.

Unfortunately, the independent US athlete Lapanja who qualified for the final run and was first to ski, made a significant mistake and had to circle uphill to complete her run. At the same time, she will add her name to US athletes who have scored during the 2022-23 season. However, she missed out on a wonderful opportunity. Lapanja finished the day in 23rd place.

At the end of the day, three Canadians and two US women were able to add to their World Cup point totals. Shiffrin and Moltzan were in the top five.

Analysis of the fastest three, Qualified North Americans and final results

Final results of the January 10th World Cup Flachau slalom

The Associated Press and USST contributed to this report.

This is a developing story, stay tuned for more.