Slovak representative Petra Vlhová took 2nd place in Saturday’s Ski Alpine World Cup slalom in Jasná. By gaining 80 points she secured her leader position in the discipline ranking and in the fight for the big crystal globe she approached Lara Gut-Behrami from Switzerland.
The winner of Saturday's slalom was Mikaela Shiffrin from the USA. In the sum of both runs she achieved 34 hundredths of a second better time than Petra Vlhová. Both racers scored the best times in the individual runs - the Slovak set the best first run and the American was fastest in the second. The Swiss Wendy Holndener also took the podium, taking the third place with a gap of 52 hundredths of a second behind the winner.
Petra Vlhová made everyone happy in Slovakia already in the first round, in which she did not have a conqueror. After the first ride, Shiffrin was second and Holdener was third. In the second round, the 25-year-old Vlhová maintained a slight lead in the first two split times, in the third she was already one tenth of a second behind and in the finish it was 34 hundredths.
“I am really happy about my first podium in Jasná. I did my best, but Mikaela was better today,“ said Petra Vlhová after the race.
Mikaela Shiffrinová gained 100 points in the world cup discipline ranking and moved up to the second place, leaving Katharina Liensberger from Austria behind. Katharina finished fourth on Saturday, she missed the podium only by nine tenths of a second.
Another Slovak woman, Martina Dubovská, who represents the Czech Republic, also achieved an exceptionally good result on Saturday. She is ranked 8th in the official results, which is her best result in the world cup in her career. She has only made it to the top 10 three times in the past - once she was tenth and twice ninth.
Twenty-two years old Petra Hromcová made her debut in the world cup on Saturday. However, she did not finish the first run. “I was nervous at the beginning, after all, it was my first world cup and right at home envirinment. But I was looking forward to it, because to ski at home is an experience,” she said after her run.
Final results of Saturday’s slalom in Jasná:
- Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) 1:44,28 min
- PETRA VLHOVÁ (SVK) +0,34 s
- Wendy Holdener (SUI) +0,52
- Katharina Liensberger (AUT.) +1,42
- Michelle Gisin (SUI) +2,24
- Ana Bucik (SLO) +3,07
- Martina Peterlini (ITA) +3,32
- Martina Dubovská (CZE) +3,54
- Andreja Slokar (SLO) +3,55
- Laurence St-Germain (CAN) +3,59
