'Never give up': Shiffrin wins Sunday slalom after Vlhova straddles
Nov 12, 2023·Alpine Skiing
Just when Petra Vlhova (SVK) appeared on her way to a second slalom victory in Levi, a straddle ended her race and reset the weekend narrative, with Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) waiting in the wings for her 89th World Cup victory and yet another record.
Shiffrin won her seventh race in Finnish Lapland on Sunday — and her seventh reindeer in the process — to set a women's World Cup mark for most slalom wins at one venue, breaking a tie with Vlhova (six in Levi) and Swiss legend Vreni Schneider (six in Maribor).
But it was an improbable victory that came after Vlhova, who dominated Saturday's slalom, led by 0.78 seconds following Sunday's first run and then extended that lead to over a second on the final run before coming unstuck in the middle of the course, straddling a gate to register a DNF (did not finish).
"Never give up," Shiffrin said, scarcely believing that she had managed to extend her all-time record for World Cup wins, with Leona Popovic (CRO) and Lena Duerr (GER) rounding out the podium.
"I was sort of settled on second place," Shiffrin admitted. "Petra really did a masterclass in slalom skiing this weekend, in my mind she earned this victory and I'm quite lucky to have it."
"It feels like she should have won and I think everybody knows that. But I did earn a podium so I was actually pretty satisfied with second place. I'll take the luck this time."
Shiffrin, who finished fourth on Saturday, battled knee soreness in the lead-up to Levi but put that aside to ski two clean runs on Sunday.
"I didn't feel pain when I was skiing, but it's just that I didn't train the last 11 days," she said of competing with the injury.
"The timing is just a little hard, especially in slalom it's so important to have these (training) days in the gates. When you're skiing there's adrenalin and you don't think about it so much."
Also feeling the adrenalin was Popovic, who skied a blistering second run — the fastest of the field — to move up from fifth and claim her second career World Cup podium, 0.18 seconds behind Shiffrin.
"I was really happy that I put together a whole good run," Popovic said.
"Today I was feeling really good, on the first run also but I saw some mistakes. I was just trying to be as fast as possible in the second."
Duerr also moved up, reaching the podium for the second day in a row after entering the second run in fourth place.
"It was not so easy but I'm super happy with my weekend," she said. "Perfect start to the new season, it's always fun here."
It was Duerr's sixth consecutive top-four finish in Levi, but she has been shut out of the top step of the podium as Shiffrin and Vlhova have won the last 12 Levi races between them dating back to 2016 — a trend that Duerr aims to finally end in 12 months' time.
"Petra and Mikaela are collecting (all the victories), but maybe next year we will have a chance," Duerr said hopefully.
