Slovakian skier Petra Vlhova controlled the very first females’s World Cup slalom of the season on Saturday by plainly winning both runs, with Mikaela Shiffrin ending up in 4th. The American, who raced with a bruised left knee following a training crash recently, tracked Vlhova by 0.42 seconds after the opening run however eventually completed 1.70 behind. Lena Duerr of Germany was 1.41 behind in 2nd and previous slalom world champ Katharina Liensberger positioned 3rd for the Austrian’s very first podium lead to 15 slaloms considering that January 2022. Vlhova, who is the Olympic champ in the discipline, ended up being the 6th skier in females’s World Cup history to win 20 profession World Cup slaloms. Shiffrin stated the training mishap did not impact her in the race. “It’s not ideal, however it’s not holding me back from snowboarding strong,” she stated. “Last week, we did a truly excellent task to press into a sort of training in the fitness center, attempting various things, various loading. By Thursday, I had the ability to do a complete strength training session.” In an Instagram post the day before the race, Shiffrin stated she felt “rather great now” after “she took a reasonable quantity of effect through my left knee” when she straddled a gate and crashed throughout slalom training. Mikaela Shiffrin of United States responds in the surface location after her 2nd operate on Saturday in Finland. Picture: Kimmo Brandt/EPA”I’m fortunate (therefore really grateful) to have actually come away with a bone contusion however no other significant damage,” stated Shiffrin, who won both slaloms here in 2015 on her method to winning the discipline title for the seventh time. No skier aside from the American or Vlhova has actually won the conventional season-opening slalom in Finnish Lapland given that then-overall champ Tina Maze of Slovenia thrived in 2014. “Honestly, I didn’t anticipate such a space in between me and Lena and Katharina. I feel great. I’m delighting in snowboarding and I feel self-confidence,” stated Vlhova, now atop the total standings having actually begun the season by completing 3rd in a huge slalom in Austria 2 weeks back in a race where Shiffrin positioned 6th. Laurence St-Germain, who beat Shiffrin to the slalom world title last February, routed by 3.57 seconds in the very first run and the Canadian skier stopped working to get approved for the 2nd run. Katharina Gallhuber, the 2018 Olympic bronze medalist, put 13th in the Austrian’s very first race in more than 600 days following a knee injury. Another slalom on the exact same hill is set up for Sunday.
Shiffrin positions 4th in very first World Cup slalom of season after training crash
