Petra Vlhova earns first World Cup win of season to deny Mikaela Shiffrin history in Flachau

Slalom world champion Petra Vlhova pipped Mikaela Shiffrin to victory in Flachau to earn her first World Cup win of the season and deny the American a standalone world record.

Shiffrin’s victory in Kranjska Gora days earlier saw her draw level with compatriot Lindsey Vonn as the most successful female skier ever with 82 World Cup wins, but she was made to wait to make that record her own after being denied by Slovakia’s Vlhova in a thrilling night race.

Vlhova claimed the slalom world crown in 2022 but headed to Austria without a victory to her name in the 2023 season.

However, the 27-year-old put in two strong runs to finish with a time of 1:51.95, 0.43 seconds ahead of Shiffrin.

“I’m really happy because it was a long, long wait to come back here,” Vlhova said.

“It’s an amazing day for me, thank you so much to the amazing fans. I want to say thank you to my team because they’re always supporting me even if I’m a little bit bad or a little bit down. I’m super happy to win here, it’s something special.”

Germany’s Lena Duerr put in an impressive performance to take third and earn her first podium of the season.

Wendy Holdener of Switzerland and Paula Moltzan of USA rounded off the top five, while Katharina Liensberger put in the best performance of the Austrian team on home soil to finish sixth.

Croatian teenager Zrinka Ljutic had the chance to become the breakthrough star of the night after finishing third-fastest in the first run, but the pressure told as a mistake in the top sector of run two saw the chance go begging as she posted a DNF.

Wearing bib No.1, Shiffrin was first out of the gate and put in a smooth and quick, if not unbeatable, first run to lay down the gauntlet for her rivals.

The American benefited from a string of error-strewn runs from the rest of the field, with Duerr making a costly mistake in the final sector and Ana Bucik of Slovenia posting a DNF for an error on the same roller.

But Vlhova ensured this would be no victory parade for Shiffrin by charging through the early sectors and getting the green light in the third to cross the line with a 0.17 second lead.

There was still time for a surprise as 18-year-old Ljutic put in a fantastic run wearing the No.17 bib to cross the line third fastest and give herself a real shot at a first career World Cup podium.

In run two, Switzerland’s Aline Danioth rose 15 places thanks to the third-quickest second run, but it was only enough for a 13th place finish overall.

Moltzan, aiming for her second podium of the season, went top with eight skiers to go, but was eventually bumped off the leader’s chair by Holdener, before the eventual top three also leapfrogged her.

Ljutic, the slalom junior world champion, had her head in her hands after making a costly error in the top sector to blow a huge chance of a shock podium finish.

Shiffrin looked uncharacteristically nervy as she started her final run, but she built confidence on her way down to re-take the lead with a solid, if not spectacular, performance.

Vlhova made her pay by flying down the course, going from strength to strength and recovering from a small error in the final sector to cross the line with a comfortable advantage and show her champion class.

Shiffrin remains top of the slalom standings overall with 605 points. Holdener is second on 470 points and Vlhova third on 460 points as the leaderboard remained unchanged at the top.

Vlhova gained some ground on Shiffrin in the overall standings but still has a huge amount of work to do to catch up – the Slovakian is second with 796 points, with Shiffrin leading on 1195 points.

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