LIENZ – Mikaela Shiffrin dominated the opening run of a women’s World Cup slalom Friday ahead of American teammate Paula Moltzan and positioned herself for a second win in two days.
Coming off a victory in a giant slalom on the same hill, Shiffrin had a flawless run down the Schlossberg course to lead Moltzan by a huge margin of 1.14 seconds in the last World Cup race of 2023.
Swedish skier Anna Swenn Larsson was 1.32 back in third.
“I had such a good feeling. So super happy with that, and so happy for Paula as well, just like great skiing,” said Shiffrin, who was closing in on her 56th slalom win from 107 starts.
Shiffrin also carved out a big lead in Thursday’s GS, when she used a rather conservative second run to secure her record-extending 92nd career win.
“It’s definitely a push today,” Shiffrin said. “I took the last four days of training and then straight to the race yesterday, and so I knew today would be six days in a row, it was going to be maybe a little bit tiring. But I wanted to feel comfortable with the skiing.”
Moltzan posted the fastest time in the opening section, even beating Shiffrin by 0.07, but was slowed halfway down her run when she leaned backward and her ski tips went up in the air before she quickly regained her rhythm.
Shiffrin and Moltzan finished 1-2 a year ago to the day at a slalom in another Austrian resort — Semmering. It was the first such result for the U.S. women in more than 51 years.
Shiffrin’s main rival in slalom, Olympic champion Petra Vlhova, had 2.41 to make up in the second leg later Friday. Vlhova came from behind to beat Shiffrin in a night slalom in France last week.
___
More AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/skiing
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
