United States’ Shiffrin wins World Cup parallel slalom event

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland — Mikaela Shiffrin won a World Cup event for the third time in eight days, beating Petra Vlhova in the head-to-head final of parallel slalom on Sunday.

Shiffrin trailed midway down the course after clipping a gate, but led her Slovakian opponent through the final three gates to win by 0.11 seconds.

The American star’s 48th career World Cup win — fourth on the women’s all-time list — was her third straight after back-to-back victories in the super-G speed discipline Saturday at St. Moritz and last Sunday at Lake Louise, Canada.

“I’m not unbeatable, no,” Shiffrin told Swiss broadcaster RTS after the race. “I was so excited after [Saturday’s win] it was a bit of a challenge to refocus.”

Still, Shiffrin does look unbeatable if she stays injury-free chasing a third straight season-long overall title. With 100 more World Cup points Sunday, she has more than double the total of her nearest rival, Michelle Gisin of Switzerland.

Shiffrin will skip the next World Cup meeting — a downhill and super-G at Val Gardena, Italy — to focus on her specialist slalom and giant slalom events on Dec. 21-22 at Courchevel, France.

Vlhova advanced to the final in one of the tightest races, winning her semifinal by 0.02 from three-time Olympic medalist Wendy Holdener of Switzerland.