Vlhova earns big slalom win in Are

Petra Vlhova came through in the clutch again, winning today’s Audi FIS World Cup slalom race by a0.20 seconds margin ahead of Austrian Katharina Liensberger. Third place went to Mikaela Shiffrin, sitting 0.64 seconds back.

With the win, Vlhova picked up valuable points in her quest for the Overall title. She now leads Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI) by 64 points with still another slalom scheduled tomorrow.

It has been the same three women battling each other the entire season in the slalom, and today was no different as the chase was on after the first run, which saw Vlohva 0.41 seconds ahead of Shiffrin and Liensberger not far off the pace in third.

Liensberger jumped ahead one spot in the second run, thanks mainly in part to a rare mistake from Shiffrin midway through the second run, that cost the American valuable time. Soft snow conditions wreaked havoc also with many others in the start field, with several DNFs throughout the day.

For Vlhova, it was her fourth slalom victory of the season and all but wrapped up the small slalom goal for the Slovakian. It is still mathematically possible for Liensberger or Shiffrin to catch Vlhova for the small globe, but highly unlikely given the consistency of all three women right now. Vlhova currently holds an85-point lead over Shiffrin and is 90 points ahead of Liensberger.

Tomorrow, Vlhova will aim to distance herself further from Gut-Behrami with a second slalom in Are, starting at 10:30.