Slovak skier Petra Vlhová achieved her first victory of the current season. In Tuesday's night slalom of the World Cup in Flachau, she triumphed with a lead of 43 hundredths ahead of the American Mikaela Shiffrin. German Lena Dürr finished third with a loss of 85 hundredths. Vlhová celebrated her 27th victory in the prestigious series in the Austrian center and moved up to 13th place in the women's history when she tied German Maria Höfl-Riesch. She jumped over two legends - Swiss Michele Figini and Slovenian Tina Maze, who together recorded 26 championships in WC races. "I am very, very happy. I waited a long time for the victory. I thank the wonderful Slovak fans and my whole team for their support. The triumph in Flachau is always special. It was a struggle. Mikaela went very well and I knew that I had to give my best ", said Vlhová.
For the Olympic slalom champion, it is the first triumph in the WC since March 11, 2022, when she won the giant slalom in Aare. In Flachau, she created an excellent starting position already after the 1st round, after which she took the lead by 17 hundredths ahead of Shiffrin. The Slovak took full advantage of the fact that the track was built by her coach Mauro Pini. While starting number 6, she performed a dynamic ride and handled frequent rhythm changes well. Although she was close behind the American in the first two splits, after the third she was already riding in green numbers and kept the lead until the finish line. "I didn't expect to be in the lead, it surprised me. I tried to take risks on the runs, some gates were really difficult. But I don't think it was the most difficult round in the past year or two. It was a constructed slalom, you had to think. It was necessary to go for some goals with reason and to burn it in others. I knew exactly how I would go," said Vlhová at the finish line. (TASR)
