MARIBEL, France ( Associated Press) — Mikaela Shiffrin has already won the overall World Cup title. Petra Vlahova had both Olympic and World Cup titles in slalom. Maybe Saturday left room for a surprise.
MARIBEL, France ( Associated Press) — Mikaela Shiffrin has already won the overall World Cup title. Petra Vlahova had both Olympic and World Cup titles in slalom. Maybe Saturday left room for a surprise.
Andreja Sloker stepped out with a career-best result to win the slalom in the meeting of the World Cup final in the sunny French Alps.
The 24-year-old finished 0.48 seconds ahead of Slovenian skier Lina Durr, who took another first-run lead at the Beijing Olympics last month. Ali Nulmeyer of Toronto was the top Canadian in sixth place.
Vlahova, who won five of the last eight World Cup slalom races, was 0.81 in third place.
Shifrin was fifth fastest in the morning, then finished eighth, 1.48 behind. Of the contenders, only the sloker found his pace on the second running surface that eroded under a hot sun.
Croatia’s Zrinka Ljutic, the 18-year-old world junior champion, also excelled in the afternoon to finish fifth.
Slocker won a parallel racing on the World Cup circuit in November, though never better than fourth in the slalom during his career.
His fifth place in the Olympics, just 0.10 of the medals, also indicated his potential.
It was another disappointment for Durr, who is still looking for victory after over 100 starts in the World Cup slalom.
The 30-year-old German could not maintain a lead of 0.37 from the morning – and an advantage of 0.75 over Slocker – though at least secured his fourth podium finish in the slalom this season. Their first-run lead in China slipped to fourth place just 0.07 away from the bronze medal.
After the race, Vlhova was presented with the small Crystal Globe trophy for topping the slalom standings. He won it in 2020 as well.
Shiffrin will be presented as the overall champion with her fourth giant crystal globe on Sunday after the giant slalom that ended the women’s season.
She and Vlhova are in a four-way contest for the giant slalom discipline title alongside Olympic champion Sarah Hector and two-time world champion Tessa Varley.
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