Vlhova shakes Shiffrin in Olympic season

Triple world and reigning Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin was edged by just a tenth of a second in the opening World Cup slalom in Finland on Sunday as Slovakia's Petra Vlhova stole the show with a brilliant second run.

Vlhova's win on the new season's first slalom follows her win at Aspen, also in the slalom at the final event of last season and sets the taller and highly technical Slovak up as the woman to beat.

"It was so, so hard, Mikaela is always fast. But now I am fast too," said the winner, now coached by Italian Livio Magoni, who previously helped Slovenian star Tina Maze.

"It's amazing. I won the last race and to confirm that makes me really happy because it was a tough day."

"I told Mikaela she is strong and fast but I was on my best form today," said Vlhova, who other than Shiffrin, is the first woman since 2014 to win back to back slaloms.

Shiffrin's second place puts the American atop the World Cup overall standings after her fifth place in the giant slalom two weeks ago.

But 22-year-old Shiffrin was visibly upset at failing to overhaul Vlhova after embarking last out of the gate for the second descent of the Levi slope in a season building towards the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in February.

Shiffrin took to Instagram to congratulate her rival, saying it had been a good fight.

Vlhova had placed second to Shiffrin some 0.21sec adrift on the first run but eventually won by a margin of 0.1 sec after a faultless second run, while Switzerland's Wendy Holdener finished third more than a second adrift.

Shiffrin has won the World Cup slalom title in four of the past five seasons and triumphed in the past three world championships and took the 2014 Olympic title.

The emerging Vlhova is also 22 and this was her third victory in contrast to Shiffrin's 31.

Source: AFP