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sports Monday 4 January 2021
Vlhova edges Liensberger in slalom in Croatia; Shiffrin 4th

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — and Erin Mielzynski in fifth
Shortly after winning the was a massive 1.13 sec-
first women’s World Cup onds. It was the Canadi-
slalom of 2021 on Sunday, an’s first top-five result since
Petra Vlhova kneeled with November 2015.
her face down, torn be- Shiffrin led the best show-
tween relief and disbelief. ing by the U.S. ski team in a
The Slovakian skier’s win women’s slalom in 14 years,
came five days after her as four American racers
four-year-long joint winning qualified for the decisive
streak with Mikaela Shiffrin leg for the first time since
ended. 2007.
In tough conditions due to Paula Moltzan finished
fog and rain, the overall 14th, Katie Hensien 18th,
leader from Slovakia beat and Nina O’Brien failed to Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova celebrates as she arrives at the finish area of an alpine ski, women’s World
Katharina Liensberger of finish her final run. Cup Slalom, in Zagreb, Croatia, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021.
Austria by five-hundredths Defending overall cham- Associated Press
of a second. pion Federica Brignone that hardened the top lay- The race took place five The Croatian ski federation
Shiffrin was 0.27 behind in skipped the race in order to er but also created a lot of days after a magnitude 6.4 matched that donation,
fourth, forced to wait for train for upcoming speed bumps. earthquake hit central Cro- raising the total amount
her 100th career World events in Austria. Even Croatian great Ivica atia. Race organizers said to 350,000 Croatian kunas
Cup podium, a milestone Heavy rain on Saturday Kostelic struggled on the they would donate 10% of (50,000 euros; $60,000).
reached by only four fe- weakened the surface of course. The 2011 men’s the prize money to a re- The women’s World Cup
male skiers in the 54-year the Crveni Spust course just overall champion lost his lief fund for people whose continues with speed races
history of the sport. outside Croatia’s capital. balance and fell during a houses have been dam- in St. Anton, Austria, next
Leading after the first run, Course workers added salt pre-race camera run. aged or destroyed. weekend.q
Vlhova thought she had
squandered her chances
in a rough final run with
several mistakes on the de-
teriorating course.
“During my run, I thought,
‘OK, the race is done.’ But
I found something inside,
I pushed more and more
and more until the finish,”
she said.
“It’s amazing and a really
emotional victory.”
At a night race in Semmer-
ing last Tuesday, Michelle
Gisin became the first skier
other than Vlhova or Shiffrin
to win a World Cup slalom
in 29 races since January
2017, when Frida Hansdot-
ter triumphed in Flachau.
Vlhova and Gisin are 1-2
in both the slalom and the
overall standings.
On Sunday, the Swiss skier
was 0.22 behind in third as
the top four from the first
run remained unchanged.
After Vlhova and Shiffrin
dominated women’s sla-
lom racing in recent years,
Liensberger and Gisin seem
to have closed the gap.
Gisin become the first Swiss
slalom winner in 19 years
with her victory in Semmer-
ing, and Liensberger has
been on the podium in all
four slaloms this season.
“They are really fast,” Vl-
hova said. “We are really
close, I have to ski always
to my limit because they
push me a lot.”
In Sunday’s race, the gap
between Shiffrin in fourth