Petra Vlhova Wins In Are

It was not an easy day with challenging snow conditions caused by the warm temperatures in the Scandinavian resort.

As the night went on, spring-like skiing conditions became bumpier and more difficult to navigate. Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova claimed first,  immediately at ease and, in both the first and second runs, showed fluid and flawless skiing that allowed her to grab her sixth Giant Slalom victory on the same slope where she became World Champion in 2019. She was 1.24 seconds ahead of Italy’s Marta Bassino in second, and Shiffrin, who moved up into third.

Marta Bassino (ITA), behind Petra Vlhova, achieved her best placing of the season after two third places. The Italian placed ahead of Mikaela Shiffrin who collected her 118th career podium. This victory reopens the games at Overall, Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) holds the lead but Vlhova is firmly in the hunt. 

Shiffrin sat in sixth after her first run and was able to hang on throughout what she described as a “wild” course.  “I felt like my skiing [in the second run] had a bit more fire, and I had mostly hoped I wouldn’t move back a bit, so it’s quite incredible to have moved up a couple of places,” said Shiffrin.

Shiffrin’s podium finish allowed her to stay ahead of Vlhova in the race for the overall crystal globe, as well as in the mix of the top three in the giant slalom standings. Vlhova’s win decreased the overall margin a touch. The duo now sits 77 points apart in the standings. In Saturday’s slalom, Shiffrin will look to keep up the fight, knowing that both she and Vlhova have little recovery time before another day of racing on spring-like conditions.

Sara Hector (SWE) did not finish, but she retained her spot at the top of the Giant Slalom standings - albeit with a reduced advantage of five points from Tessa Worley (FRA) who claimed fourth. Sara Hector skied out near the top of the course on her second run. Michele Gisin and Tessa Worley suffered a few large mistakes that pushed them out of podium position.