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ZAGREB, Croatia — Shortly after profitable the primary ladies’s World Cup slalom of 2021 on Sunday, Petra Vlhova kneeled along with her face down, torn between aid and disbelief.
The Slovakian skier’s win got here 5 days after her four-year-long joint profitable streak with Mikaela Shiffrin ended.
In powerful circumstances attributable to fog and rain, the general chief from Slovakia beat Katharina Liensberger of Austria by five-hundredths of a second.
Shiffrin was 0.27 behind in fourth, compelled to attend for her a hundredth profession World Cup podium, a milestone reached by solely 4 feminine skiers within the 54-year historical past of the game.
Main after the primary run, Vlhova thought she had squandered her probabilities in a tough closing run with a number of errors on the deteriorating course.
“Throughout my run, I believed, ‘OK, the race is completed.’ However I discovered one thing inside, I pushed an increasing number of and extra till the end,” she mentioned. “It’s superb and a extremely emotional victory.”
At an evening race in Semmering final Tuesday, Michelle Gisin turned the primary skier apart from Vlhova or Shiffrin to win a World Cup slalom in 29 races since January 2017, when Frida Hansdotter triumphed in Flachau.
Vlhova and Gisin are 1-2 in each the slalom and the general standings.
On Sunday, the Swiss skier was 0.22 behind in third as the highest 4 from the primary run remained unchanged.
After Vlhova and Shiffrin dominated ladies’s slalom racing in recent times, Liensberger and Gisin appear to have closed the hole.
Gisin change into the primary Swiss slalom winner in 19 years along with her victory in Semmering, and Liensberger has been on the rostrum in all 4 slaloms this season.
“They’re actually quick,” Vlhova mentioned. “We’re actually shut, I’ve to ski at all times to my restrict as a result of they push me rather a lot.”
In Sunday’s race, the hole between Shiffrin in fourth and Erin Mielzynski in fifth was an enormous 1.13 seconds. It was the Canadian’s first top-five outcome since November 2015.
Shiffrin led the most effective displaying by the U.S. ski group in a ladies’s slalom in 14 years, as 4 American racers certified for the decisive leg for the primary time since 2007.
Paula Moltzan completed 14th, Katie Hensien 18th, and Nina O’Brien failed to complete her closing run.
Defending total champion Federica Brignone skipped the race with the intention to practice for upcoming velocity occasions in Austria.
Heavy rain on Saturday weakened the floor of the Crveni Spust course simply outdoors Croatia’s capital. Course employees added salt that hardened the highest layer but additionally created loads of bumps.
Even Croatian nice Ivica Kostelic struggled on the course. The 2011 males’s total champion misplaced his steadiness and fell throughout a pre-race digicam run.
The race passed off 5 days after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit central Croatia. Race organizers mentioned they’d donate 10% of the prize cash to a aid fund for folks whose homes have been broken or destroyed.
The Croatian ski federation matched that donation, elevating the full quantity to 350,000 Croatian kunas (50,000 euros; $60,000).
The ladies’s World Cup continues with velocity races in St. Anton, Austria, subsequent weekend.
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