Vlhova beats Shiffrin in rainy night race

COURCHEVEL, France — Mikaela Shiffrin 2, Petra Vlhova 2.

The two best slalom skiers on the women’s World Cup continued their rivalry Thursday, as Vlhova used a frenetic final run to edge out Shiffrin in tough conditions at a night race affected by rain and fog.

They have now both won two slaloms this season. Shiffrin, the 2014 Olympic champion, leads the standings with 330 points; Vlhova, the 2022 Olympic gold medalist, trails by 50 points in second. The season consists of 11 slaloms.

On Thursday, Vlhova trailed the American by 0.17 seconds after the opening run but posted the fastest second-run time to lead the race.

Shiffrin, as the last starter, lost time on Vlhova at each split and ultimately came up 0.24 short.

“Petra is just an incredible slalom skier. It’s not possible to beat her unless I am at 100 percent. I was skiing really well today, though,” said Shiffrin, who smiled after finishing and congratulated Vlhova with a hug.

“I didn’t see her second run, of course. But I can imagine she did it well, like she earned that victory. I am happy with the second place, maybe not totally satisfied, of course. But I think I handled these conditions better than I have in the past.”

Vlhova won the first slalom this season and Shiffrin the next two, including the race in Killington, Vermont, in November.

Last January, Lena Duerr became the last skier other than Shiffrin or Vlhova to win a World Cup slalom. On Thursday, the German had the third-fastest time at the first check point in the opening run before straddling a gate.

The result marked the 23rd time in women’s World Cup history that Shiffrin and Vlhova finished 1-2 in a slalom, with the American winning on 13 occasions.

“It’s really good for our sport, because I think we are pushing each other. We are maybe putting our skiing to higher levels,” Vlhova said.

It was Vlhova’s 21st career win in a slalom, giving her fourth position on the all-time winners list. Only Shiffrin (55), Marlies Schild (35) and Vreni Schneider (34) have won more slaloms.

The Shiffrin-Vlhova dominance in slalom was reflected in the final result as the rest of the field finished more than two seconds off the pace. Austrian skiers Katharina Truppe and Katharina Gallhuber were third and fourth, respectively, and Shiffrin’s American teammate Paula Moltzan dropped from fourth after the first run to fifth, 2.64 behind Vlhova.

“I am feeling great, with big confidence,” Vlhova said. “The last races, I was always there but something was missing. This victory is really important. I know that I can be fast, and today I showed.”

Earlier Thursday, Shiffrin and Vlhova defied the conditions to set up yet another duel for victory, as they left the field behind at more than a second off the American’s lead.

“Yeah, it’s tough. You see a big gap, that’s because there’s not much to push on,” Shiffrin said about the weakened surface of the Stade E. Allais course.

Shiffrin, coming off a rare DNF in Sunday’s super-G in nearby Val d’Isere, opened the race and avoided major mistakes on a difficult course set by Vlhova’s coach Mauro Pini.

The Slovakian, who started second, was faster than Shiffrin in three of the four sections, but had a costly mistake in the second where she lost 0.47 on the American.

Shiffrin extended her lead in the overall standings, now leading Federica Brignone by 143 points. The Italian, who won Sunday’s super-G, rarely competes in slalom and sat out Thursday’s race.