Vlhova Crowned Zagreb's Snow Queen
For the third time in a row in Zagreb, Petra Vlhova wore the Snow Queen crown. Conditions were tough, with warm weather providing barely enough snow to drill in the gates, and plenty of wind made obvious by the myriad of tree leaves scattered across the hill and a course hold second run to re-install the finish banner that had blown down. There were dozens of DNFs due to the tricky sugary snow, but Petra Vlhova of Slovakia put it all on the line to win the first run by .64 seconds. And she didn’t back off in the second run, taking the win at the Croatian night race for the third year in a row. Shiffrin was half a second behind Vlhova in second place with Katharina Liensberger of Austria finishing third after a big mistake on her second run, 2.11 seconds behind Vlhova.
Petra Vlhova (SVK) has been almost unbeatable in this discipline, winning four out of five slalom races this season. She just recorded a 16th slalom win, continuing a winning strike of 51 podiums. Her confidence is so big at the moment, which allows her to ski very aggressive and faster than everyone else.
Behind her was Mikaela Shiffrin (USA), the only one who can keep up the level so far and took the only win that the Slovakian couldn't. She stayed in the pits because of Covid and came right back to level. How long will it take her to overtake Stenmarkt's record of 46 victories? The busy technical programme with Kranjska Gora and Flachau will undoubtedly be exciting to see these two battling it out in the coming weeks!
Katharina Liensberger (AUT) rounded out the podium, +2.11 off the pace of the Snow Queen. Due to a glaring error, Katarina Liensberger practically came to a standstill. Still, she managed to secure this third position ahead of Wendy Holdener (SUI), who had provisionally held it in the first heat. The slalom world champion is making a comeback!
In her first race back on the FIS World Cup after coming down with COVID-19 over the holidays, Mikaela Shiffrin put down a blazing second run to take second place in the Zagreb, Croatia night slalom. Paula Moltzan was 11th.
Shiffrin missed the slalom and giant slalom races in Lienz, Austria just before New Year's due to a bout with COVID-19, but was thrilled to return to one of her favorite venues on the circuit after testing negative. She said she didn't have the ideal preparation due to quarantine, but felt normal and healthy. “I was really happy to be here today,” she said. “I think I had more fun skiing than anybody. After the last weeks, it was like ugh, come on! I just started getting this rhythm going and then totally cut down in the middle of it.”
The two-time Olympic champion and six-time world champion had certainly fallen into a rhythm throughout December, having five podiums in the last six races she entered. Zagreb was also an ideal venue to make her return, having won Zagreb’s Snow Queen Trophy night slalom four times.
While rival Vlhova took her third title on the hill, Shiffrin was pleased with her skiing, all things considered. “I knew it was going to be tough today after 10 days in a room and not being able to do any kind of physical exercise,” she said. “I lost some of this energy to push, but today showed me I didn’t lose too much. It’s something I can get back and I’ll do my best to get that back over the next weeks. It was quite a positive day. I love racing in Zagreb, even if I’m not winning, I just love it here. I really appreciate that I was able to come back for this race.”
Moltzan had a tough second run, dealing with gusts of wind in the start gate as well as the soft course conditions and a fractured wrist, but still scored an excellent 11th place finish—her best finish at the venue.
With her second-place finish, Shiffrin still leads the overall World Cup standings by 115 points over Vlhova, who overtook speed-specialist Sofia Goggia with her win. Vlhova continued to build on her overall slalom standings with 480 points to Shiffrin’s 340.
Katie Hensien just missed the flip, finishing 31st run in her first run by nine-hundredths of a second, so did not qualify for a second run. Lila Lapanja and Zoe Zimmerman also did not qualify for a second run and Nicola Rountree-Williams—who was racing in her career-first World Cup—did not finish first run.
