Vlhová wins Åre giant slalom to narrow gap on Shiffrin in World Cup title race

Slovakian skier Petra Vlhová dominated the penultimate ladies’s World Cup big slalom of the season Friday, narrowing the hole on chief Mikaela Shiffrin within the general standings.

Shiffrin was sixth after the opening run however improved to 3rd, 1.70 seconds behind Vlhová. The American had her lead over Vlhová lowered to 77 factors within the general standings with 5 races left this season.

Marta Bassino, who dominated the self-discipline final season, was 1.24 behind in second.

Olympic GS champion Sara Hector was third after the opening run, however the Swedish chief of the GS standings straddled a gate early in her second run and didn't end.

Hector had her lead within the self-discipline standings lower to only 5 factors from Tessa Worley, who completed fourth. Hector was on the rostrum in every of the final six big slaloms whereas profitable three of them.

Vlhová dealt finest with delicate snow circumstances in each runs on an untypically heat day in central Sweden.

“With these sort of circumstances, I really feel actually sturdy and I’m capable of ski actually quick,” Vlhová stated.

Within the first run, she appeared headed for an enormous lead. Nonetheless, she misplaced about seven-tenths of a second following a mistake within the flat part earlier than the end and was simply 0.03 sooner than Bassino.

Vlhová prevented comparable mishaps within the remaining run for her first GS victory since profitable her residence race in Jasna a yr in the past.

“It’s fairly vital – but it surely’s vital for myself,” Vlhová stated. “Lastly, after multiple yr, I come again and I'm on the highest of the rostrum.”

Returning to the venue of her 2019 world big slalom title, Vlhová bounced again from snowboarding out within the opening run of a GS in Switzerland final weekend, permitting Shiffrin to extend her general lead with a fourth-place end.

Wendy Holdener had a nasty crash when her ski caught a bump, inflicting her to lose steadiness and ski by way of the following gate earlier than she slid into the protection netting alongside the course. The Swiss two-time medalist from the Beijing Olympics obtained up and skied down the course as she apparently escaped critical accidents.

Within the first run, Federica Brignone hooked a gate along with her left arm and failed to complete. The 2020 general champion from Italy secured the super-G season title final weekend.

The second run happened on a floodlit course, which is fairly uncommon for a large slalom.

A slalom is scheduled for Saturday, the final ladies’s race earlier than the World Cup Finals in Méribel, France, subsequent week.

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