Industry News
Tuesday, January 16, 2024, saw the women’s Slalom event at Flachau, Austria, a ski resort that is part of the Amadé ski area. Mikaela Shiffrin had announced she was fit to return and everyone knew it would be an interesting final between the two Slalom Queens Mikaela Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova from Slovakia. Vlhova has won on the tricky course near Salzburg a total of three times in her career while Shiffrin has four victories to her name.
Run 1
The course in Flachau might not be the steepest Slalom course but it has many rollers and can be technically very demanding. The course demanded its toll today, with a staggering 23 out of 74 skiers not finishing run 1.
Germany’s Lena Dürr in bib 1 skied into a somewhat disappointing seventh place on run 1. The German is currently third in the World Cup Slalom standings but seemed to not be on her top game today. Paula Moltzan in bib 2 was looking fast on the top section but was slightly back seat with her upper body. To counter-balance she was moving her pole forward but it planted between her legs and she managed to spin herself around, losing one ski in the process and sliding out. The American slid a fair bit on the icy course but came to rest unharmed. Shiffrin in bib 3 shot into the lead but was beaten by 0.07 seconds by Vlhova in bib 6.
AJ Hurt finished run 1 in ninth place. The young American tech skier had won her first podium just last week at Kransjka Gora, where she finished in third place from a starting position outside the top 30 favorites.
- Related: U.S. Ski Racer AJ Hurt Wins First-Ever Podium at Slalom at FIS World Cup in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia
Shiffrin said in an interview with Swiss SRF after her first run:
”I felt quite good. I crossed the finish and thought ‘Okay, this was a really good run’ It should take a specific kind of run to be faster and I knew Petra could do this. In the end, I am super happy with my own performance, it’s not such a big difference. This hill is always quite challenging. Especially for me, I always feel quite intimidated by the rollers. The execution this time for me was very good.”
Run 2
Run 2 in Slalom is run in reverse order with the fastest skiers from run 1 going last. Only the fastest 30 skiers qualify for run 2, so the field was whittled down from 51 who had finished run 1, to 30 skiers to compete in run 2.
It was 17-year-old Lara Colturi who catapulted herself into the lead as fifth starter on run 2. The young Italian-Albanian skier, who starts for Albania due to a fallout with the Italian National Team, put down a fantastic second run, that secured her a seat on the leader’s seat for ages, as skier after skier failed to unseat her. It was 17th starter Dzenifera Germane from Latvia who finally managed to beat Colturi’s time by 0.13 seconds. She in turn was unseated by 20th skier Camille Rast from Switzerland by 0.53 seconds.
Then it was down to the final 10 skiers, or the fastest 10 of run 1. Croatia’s Zrinka Ljutic devastatingly wiped out shortly before the finish line after straddling the fourth last gate, but was thankfully unharmed. America’s AJ Hurt slid out on the fifth gate from the top, ending her bid for a top 10 finish with a DNF, while likewise, Andrea Slokar from Slovenia slid too low on one of the top gates, ending her race. Next skier, Lena Dürr struggled on the mid-section where she lost momentum and the German finished in a disappointing 15th place overall.
Next up was Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin, who had finished run 1 in sixth place. The Swiss skier was looking strong on the top section but then lost grip of her pole on the mid-section. The pole was flailing around wildly and this cost her valuable milliseconds. It almost looked like the Swiss was done for, as the pole flew around aimlessly, just attached to her glove with the Leki grip, but she incredibly managed to flick it up and back into her hand after four gates and finished 0.45 seconds ahead of her teammate Rast. The crowd was laughing and cheering while Gisin let out a roar in the finish area. Everyone including her must have thought she was without a chance after losing her pole. Fifth fastest from run 1, Katharina Truppe from Austria, could not match the energy of the Swiss skier and finished in ultimately 14th place, just 0.12 seconds ahead of Dürr.
Fourth last skier or fourth fastest was Sara Hector from Sweden. So far this season the Swede had missed out on the podium in Slalom at every race. She had some unfinished business and skied with great aggression in an almost flawless second run and beat Gisin by 0.27 seconds. There were three skiers left to go, so there was no guarantee of a podium spot but the Swede celebrated elatedly after the bad luck of the past few races.
Hector’s teammate Anna Swenn Larsson was up next and while she gave it everything in a fast and aggressive run, she could not beat her teammate, being relegated to what was ultimately 5th place. Hector was hugging Rast and Gisin in the winner’s seat—it was those three on the podium—but next up was Shiffrin, who had a 0.85-second lead from run 1. The American weaved her way down the course with her usual great agility and precision. She took the rollers without batting an eyelid and flew across the finish line with a lead of 1.11 seconds. It was an incredible run to behold. Shiffrin was back after the disappointment of the last two races when the American skier was suffering from a cold and had finished outside the top five.
It was only Vlhova left to go with a tiny lead on Shiffrin by 0.07 seconds. Could she hold on or even extend the lead? The Slovak was quick out of the gates, looking agile and alert, extending her lead to 0.21 seconds. She bounced past a pole somewhat poorly in the mid-section and the Slovak did her best to defend her title aggressively, hitting the Slalom poles with gusto. On the mid-section, Vlhova snapped a pole in half, with the blue pole part bouncing around the course and hitting the Slovakian skier just two gates lower. While Vlhova was not perturbed by being hit by flying pole bits and fought on, it ultimately was not enough to unseat Shiffrin, and Vlhova crossed the finish line 0.27 seconds behind her arch-rival. Shiffrin could almost not believe it after watching the wild ride by her fellow skier. She closed her eyes and soaked it all up. It seemed simply incredible that she had won when Vlhova had looked so strong, but luck was on Shiffrin’s side today. The two skiers hugged at the finish line and animatedly chatted about the crazy finish everyone had just witnessed. Shiffrin admitted she had been sure the Slovak had her and gestured about the pole part flying at her. What a battle today’s race had been between the two Slalom Queens and what an exciting race it was to watch!
