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Petra Vlhova defeated Mikaela Shiffrin in a World Cup slalom, took the general standings lead and elevated her benefit over the American within the season-long slalom standings.
The Slovakian Vlhova earned her twentieth World Cup victory, prevailing by two tenths of a second over world champion Katharina Liensberger of Austria. Shiffrin, the 69-time winner, took third, .64 again, on the tenth anniversary of her World Cup slalom debut at age 15.
Full results from Are, Sweden, are here.
Vlhova overtook Swiss Lara Intestine-Behrami within the standings for the World Cup general title, the largest annual prize in ski racing, which a Slovakian has by no means received.
Vlhova, with 100 factors, moved 64 factors forward of Intestine-Behrami by way of 28 of 33 races this season in a contest that may come right down to subsequent week’s World Cup Finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
“In fact I really feel stress, however I understand how to handle this stress,” stated Vlhova, who owns 5 world championships medals, together with big slalom gold in 2019. The Slovakian stated she feels drained after stating all 28 World Cup races to this point this season.
Intestine-Behrami, whose greatest occasions are downhill and super-G, hasn’t raced a slalom since 2017.
Additionally with Friday’s win, Vlhova added 40 factors to her lead on Shiffrin within the slalom standings. She has an 85-point benefit with two slaloms left — one on Saturday (7:45 a.m. ET, Olympic Channel and Peacock Premium) and on March 21.
Shiffrin, who trailed Vlhova by .41 after the primary run, slipped halfway by way of her second run, costing her 4 tenths to Liensberger.
“I skied higher as we speak than I’ve in a number of races, particularly the second run,” Shiffrin stated. “I’m extra happy with this third than I’m of a number of the wins I’ve had in my profession as a result of I felt like I earned it and I fought for it.”
If Shiffrin wins each remaining slaloms, and Vlhova finishes third in each, Vlhova nonetheless wins the season title.
Vlhova, the first rival to Shiffrin the final a number of years, received her first slalom season title final yr. She trailed the American by 80 factors when Shiffrin left the tour following her father’s demise. Vlhova then received the final slalom in Shiffrin’s absence to take the title by 20 factors.
Shiffrin has by no means ceded a slalom title during which she has raced all season, taking the crystal globe six of the final eight years. The outliers had been final yr and in 2015-16, when she received the 5 slaloms that she began however missed 5 others and a metropolis occasion following a knee harm.
This season, Shiffrin returned from a 300-day break since her final race and an autumn again harm to make 5 podiums in seven slaloms, together with two wins, with a worst results of fifth.
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