(Levi) Petra Vlhova got the better of Mikaela Shiffrin for the second time in two days on Sunday, winning another World Cup slalom in Finnish Lapland.
The Slovakian, the overall World Cup champion, held a lead of 18 hundredths after the first set and finally beat her American rival by 0.47 seconds.
Shiffrin almost came off the course in the second run, but recovered well as she came off the race line in a steep portion of the track, and she barely made it through the next gate.
As she did in Saturday’s race, Vlhova set the fastest time of both heats. Its victorious margin is even 16 hundredths higher than that of the day before.
“I love Levi. It was tough today. Honestly, I didn’t like the second round too much, it was like a big fight, ”said Vlhova.
It was the 22e Slovakian career victory, 14e in slalom and fifth in Levi. No other skier than Vlhova or Shiffrin has won the race in Finland since Tina Maze’s triumph in 2014.
Lena Dürr finished third, a podium identical to the day before. The German got her third career podium.
Laurence St-Germain, from Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, did not complete the second round, she who had finished 17e of the first slalom, Saturday. Erin Mielzynski was the best Canadian at the 21e rank.
Katharina Lienberger of Austria, World Cup slalom and world champion, finished eighth.
Shiffrin aimed his 46e career victory in slalom, which would have equaled a 32-year-old record for the number of World Cup victories in a single discipline, set by legendary Swedish Ingemar Stenmark in giant slalom.
His next chance to reach that plateau will come in front of an American crowd in Killington, Vermont, next Sunday.