Petra Vlhova, who led Shiffrin by 0.76 seconds after the first run of their World Cup slalom on Sunday, looked set for another clear victory.
A day after dominating Saturday’s race on the same hill, Vlhova extended her big lead to more than a second, but then straddled a gate in the steep section midway down the Levi Black course. Waiting in the finish area, Shiffrin looked up to the course in disbelief when her long-term rival didn’t come down.
Shiffrin’s win followed a week in which the American had to reduce her time on snow after a training crash.
Still, Shiffrin stressed that her victory came amid a dominant performance from Vlhova.
“Petra really did a masterclass in slalom skiing this weekend. And she was by far ahead. In my mind, she earned this victory and I’m quite lucky to have it,” said the American, who secured her record-extending 89th career World Cup win.
“It’s a little bittersweet. I’m really happy with the victory, but I have to give her the credit. She earned it, probably a second and a half by the bottom, at least.”
Shiffrin finished 0.18sec ahead of Leona Popovic of Croatia, who was fastest in the final run and earned her second career podium result, and 0.30sec ahead of third-placed Lena Duerr of Germany.
The result marked the first top-three result of the season for Shiffrin. The American won 14 races last season and her fifth overall title.
Shiffrin started the new campaign with a sixth place in a giant slalom in Austria two weeks ago and finished fourth in Saturday’s first slalom, when Vlhova posted the fastest time in both runs to win by a big margin of 1.41sec over Duerr.
This weekend’s result gave Shiffrin an early lead in both the slalom and the overall World Cup standings.It was Shiffrin’s record seventh win in Levi, where no skier other than her or Vlhova has won the traditional season-opening slalom since 2016.
The victory earned the American a seventh reindeer – a traditional prize the winner receives after the race in Finnish Lapland. The animals remain on a local farm in Finland.
Slalom world champion Laurence St-Germain bounced back from a disappointing showing Saturday, when she failed to qualify for the second run. On Sunday, St-Germain finished seventh, one place behind Canadian teammate Ali Nullmeyer.
Katharina Liensberger, the 2021 winner of the slalom World Cup and world title who got her first podium in nearly two years Saturday, shared eighth with Wendy Holdener of Switzerland.
Shiffrin will skip the two cross-border Zermatt-Cervinia downhills in Switzerland and Italy next week. The men’s races on the Matterhorn mountain were canceled this weekend due to heavy snowfall and strong winds.
The American’s next races are in Killington, Vermont, on 25-26 November.
