'Victory is always victory': Vlhova tops Shiffrin in Courchevel night slalom

Through rain, snow, sleet and fog, Petra Vlhova (SVK) shone as brightly as ever in Courchevel on Thursday night as she came out on top in the latest round of her epic slalom rivalry with Mikaela Shiffrin (USA).

Vlhova recovered from a first-run deficit to out-ski Shiffrin in the second run, defeating the American by 0.24 seconds overall in a two-woman contest, with the rest of the field more than two seconds off the winning time.

The win was Vlhova's 30th World Cup victory and her 21st in slalom, drawing her level with Erika Hess (SUI) for equal fourth on the all-time women's slalom list behind Shiffrin (55), Marlies Schild (AUT, 35) and Vreni Schneider (SUI, 34).

"It's really important for me," Vlhova said of her first victory since the first of the Levi slaloms last month, the day after which she straddled while skiing with a significant lead in the second run of the second race.

"In the last races I was always there but something was missing," she said. "I don't want to say 'finally', but after Levi, after the DNF, I was a little bit angry."

If she was still angry on Thursday, she channelled that aggressiveness into a spectacular second run that saw her increase her lead on every split over provisional leader Katharina Truppe (AUT), who finished third.

"First run was a little bit tough for me because conditions were so-so, but the second run was much better and I just tried to ski as I know, just to show my skiing and that's it," Vlhova said.

That performance threw down the gauntlet to Shiffrin, whose 0.17-second advantage from the first leg was not enough as she lost tiny amounts of time on every split on the second run to see her lead disappear.

"She (Vlhova) was stronger today, but I had some really good skiing," said Shiffrin, who reached her 145th World Cup podium in her 260th start.

"These are days you learn so much and to come away with a podium still, for me it's really exciting, it keeps me fresh in a way."

Vlhova and Shiffrin have won two each of the four slaloms this season, and with Wendy Holdener (SUI) missing through injury and Lena Duerr (GER) straddling in the first run, the gulf between the top duo and the field seemed larger than ever.

It is the 23rd time Vlhova and Shiffrin have finished 1-2 in a World Cup slalom race, with Vlhova now having won 10 of those compared with Shiffrin's 13.

"Petra, we know, she's just an incredible slalom skier, an incredible skier," said Shiffrin, who still leads Vlhova by 50 points in the slalom standings. "It's not possible to beat her unless I'm at 100 per cent."

With a spot on the podium behind the top two up for grabs in difficult conditions in Courchevel's first traditional night slalom, Truppe snapped it up while teammate Katharina Gallhuber (AUT) finished fourth with bib No.22 for her best individual World Cup result.

"I'm feeling a little bit crazy because the last races didn't work for me, and today it's unbelievable," said Truppe, who put down an impressive second run to move up from fifth to third and make her fourth World Cup slalom podium and first in over a year.

"I was a little bit nervous and that is a good sign for me," she said. "But I didn't believe it when I see a green light in the finish, so I think, 'OK, it's the fifth place', but the podium was crazy."

While two of the Austrian Katharinas were delighted with their results, the third, Katharina Liensberger (AUT), dropped from 3rd after the first run to 18th following a disastrous second run in which she almost straddled.

Nevertheless, Liensberger's first run and her podium in the first of the Levi slaloms shows that she is slowly working her way back from a difficult season a year ago as she tries to recapture her golden feeling from the 2021 world championships.

The problem for Liensberger and everyone else on tour is that Vlhova and Shiffrin keep raising the bar — to the point where the 91-time World Cup winning American doesn't know how much higher it can go.

"Let's see," Shiffrin said. "It's always easy to say I can push more, but I have to do it actually. That's what we'll work on for the next races."

Vlhova, meanwhile, heads to the Christmas break having returned to the winner's circle and "feeling great with big confidence".

Because, as the Slovakian Olympic gold medallist said, "victory is always victory".
  
Click here for full results from Thursday's race.