Mikaela Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova have shared all the slalom victories since the start of the season and Flachau has not escaped the rule. Second only seven hundredths behind the Slovak at the end of the first round, the five-time American winner of the big crystal globe had to work hard in the second round to finally beat Vlhova by 27 hundredths at the finish. The Swede Sara Hector takes third place at 1 second and 11 hundredths.
“I am really very proud of this evening,” Mikaela Shiffrin reacted in tears. “I thank my entire team and I think of Aleks (Aamodt Kilde, his companion injured on Saturday in the downhill). I also want to thank the fans for all the support.” The best skier in history did not start the year in the best way. She missed out on her weekend in Kranjska Gora 10 days ago, taking an unusual 9th place in the giant then riding in the first round of the slalom the next day, something never seen since 2017 for the American who comes out very rarely traces.
After the Slovenian stage, Shiffrin decided to skip the super-G and the descent from Altenmarkt in Austria to rest and treat a cold. She finally spent part of the weekend in Bern at the bedside of her companion Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, injured in the shoulder and calf after his heavy fall during the descent from Wengen in Switzerland.
After seven slaloms contested out of the eleven on the winter program, Mikaela Shiffrin has one more victory than Vlhova and remains at the top of the specialty ranking (530 points) but her rival is not far behind (505). And the 28-year-old Slovak, Olympic champion between the stakes in 2022, has not said her last word. The next slalom takes place on his land, in Jasna, from next weekend.