Slovakian skier Petra Vlhova dominated the primary Girls’s World Cup slalom of the season on Saturday with clear wins in each heats, with Mikaela Shiffrin ending fourth.
The American who raced with a bruised left knee after a Training crash Final week, she trailed Vlhova by 0.42 seconds after the opening spherical however in the end completed 1.70 seconds behind.
Germany’s Lena Dürr was 1.41 seconds behind in second place, and former world slalom champion Katharina Liensberger took third place, incomes the Austrian her first podium lead to 15 slalom races since January 2022.
Vlhova, an Olympic champion within the self-discipline, turned the sixth skier in Girls’s World Cup historical past to win 20 World Cup slalom occasions.
Shiffrin mentioned the coaching accident didn’t have an effect on her within the race.
“It isn’t excellent, nevertheless it would not cease me from skating onerous,” she mentioned. “Final week, we did a extremely good job of entering into some form of coaching within the health club, making an attempt various things, completely different loading. By Thursday, I used to be in a position to do a full depth coaching session.
in Instagram share The day earlier than the race, Shiffrin mentioned she felt “fairly good now” after “taking a good quantity of impression on my left knee” when she hit the gate and crashed throughout slalom observe.
“I am fortunate (and really grateful) that I got here out with a bone bruise however no different main injury,” mentioned Shiffrin, who received each slaloms right here final yr on her method to successful the self-discipline title for the seventh time.
No skier apart from the American or Vlhova has received the season-opening conventional slalom in Finnish Lapland since then-all-around champion Tina Mies of Slovenia triumphed in 2014.
“Truthfully, I did not count on such a spot between me, Lena and Katarina. However I really feel good,” mentioned Vlhova, who leads the general standings after beginning the season by ending third in a large slalom in Austria two weeks in the past, in a race through which Shiffrin completed sixth. “I take pleasure in skating and I really feel assured.”
Lawrence Saint-Germain, who beat Shiffrin for the world slalom title final February, trailed by 3.57 seconds within the first spherical and the Canadian skier did not qualify for the second spherical.
Katharina Galhuber, the 2018 Olympic bronze medalist, completed thirteenth in Austria’s first race in additional than 600 days after struggling a knee damage.
One other slalom race is scheduled to happen on the identical hill on Sunday.
