'I'm speechless': Ljutic tops Holdener for second Slalom victory in a row

In the latest round of the veterans vs rising stars dynamic that has defined this season, Wendy Holdener (SUI/Head) seemed to gain the upper hand for the old guard with a blistering second run in Sunday's Slalom in Kranjska Gora.

But Zrinka Ljutic (CRO/Atomic) was not done yet, and the 20-year-old stormed home as the final skier on the mountain to win her second World Cup race just seven days after her first.

"I'm speechless," Ljutic said in the finish area in front of the boisterous Croatian fans who had made the trip across the border to the Slovenian resort.

"I didn't know how well Wendy skied," Ljutic admitted. "I had my own idea and I was really focusing on myself. I decided the tempo of the run, how I wanted to ski, and I really tried to stick to that vision."

Other than their 11-year age difference, nothing could separate Ljutic and Holdener on their first run down the Podkoren, and the pair stepped it up even more in the afternoon, both finishing over a second ahead of the rest of the field.

The 31-year-old Holdener was the first of the two to ski in the second run and she flew down the piste with the fastest run of the afternoon to that point, throwing down the gauntlet to Ljutic.

Despite a short delay and the pressure of the cheering crowd, Ljutic somehow lifted her game even higher, keeping her nerve and narrowly increasing her advantage in the first three splits before holding on to win by 0.16 seconds.

"I was trying to push everywhere," Zjutic said of how she managed to overcome Holdener. "The only thing I thought I could do better was let go in the finish a bit earlier, and I was like, 'I hope it's enough', and it was enough."

A day after 32-year-old Sara Hector (SWE/Head) held off teenager Lara Colturi (ALB/Blizzard) to win the Giant Slalom on the same piste, Ljutic chalked up one for the newcomers and took the lead in the Slalom standings in the process.

"Especially now after this nice result in Semmering (her win last Sunday), I had a big appetite," Ljutic said. "I obviously wanted to repeat it, and I felt, in some sense, powerful and dominant."

Holdener, who was ecstatic in the finish area after her run, must have thought she had one foot on the top step of the podium, but the Swiss veteran will take second place all the same as she continues her comeback from injury.

"I'm satisfied," Holdener said of her near-miss. "I attacked, I gave everything. It's an amazing fight.

"It was difficult but I like it that way. It was a nice course setting for me."

Holdener has had the misfortune of overlapping with two of the greatest Slalom skiers of all time, Mikaela Shiffrin (USA/Atomic) and Petra Vlhova (SVK/Rossignol), resulting in 35 of her 37 World Cup Slalom podiums being second or third.

With those two stars absent and the field wide open, the Swiss veteran has now watched Ljutic match her career Slalom victory total in a week, but in the process, a new rivalry has emerged.

Anna Swenn Larsson (SWE/Head) finished a distant third, 1.19 seconds behind Ljutic, moving up a place at the expense of Camille Rast (SUI/Head), who dropped to fourth and lost her lead in the Slalom standings.

"I feel in good shape and of course a podium is amazing," said Swenn Larsson, who shared another podium with Holdener two years after their famous joint victory in Killington.

"I'm super happy but I still feel I have so much more that I want to get out there."

That was arguably Ljutic's mindset just a couple of weeks ago, but now she is now in a different stratosphere, delivering victories not only for herself and her team, but for her fans as well.

"I think they had a good show and they also got a good reward," Ljutic said of the Croatian supporters who made the trip to watch her.

"I think these moments, we'll never forget."