FLACHAU, Austria — Petra Vlhova of Slovakia won a women’s World Cup night slalom Tuesday, denying Mikaela Shiffrin a record-equaling eighth consecutive win in the discipline.
Racing in dense snowfall, Vlhova was third after the opening run but posted the fastest second-run time.
Vlhova fell on her knees and buried her face in the snow after Shiffrin, the American two-time overall champion, finished her run 0.15 seconds behind the Slovakian winner.
“It is amazing, this is my best day ever,” Vlhova said. “I spoke with my coach before the second run: ‘It’s our time and we have to just go.’ And I did it, I finally beat Mika.”
Vlhova had finished runner-up to Shiffrin in each of the previous five slaloms this season, and she is the only skier other than the American to win a women’s World Cup slalom since the start of last season.
“I am really emotional, I finally beat Mikaela. She is really strong,” Vlhova said. “She pushes me to my limits. We always have a good fight. But today I did the perfect run and I won.”
Shiffrin, who holds the women’s record of 37 slalom wins in total, had posted the fastest time in the opening run.
However, she led Vlhova by just 0.31, and acknowledged between the runs: “It’s an open race and we start again the second run. It’s not a big gap at all.”
While Vlhova impressed with a dazzling attack in the final run to put pressure on Shiffrin as the last starter, the American soon lost a quarter of a second from her advantage as she caught a spot of soft snow on the weakened course. Shiffrin was already 0.11 off the lead with her third split time and lost four hundredths more before finishing.
“I can’t say I am not disappointed but a second place is also not bad,” said Shiffrin, who was full of praise for Vlhova. “She has been skiing really strong, really disciplined and really aggressive, so for sure she deserves to win.”
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