Petra Vlhova edges Mikaela Shiffrin to win 1st World Cup GS
American has disappointing 2nd run to miss winning record 15th race of year
Petra Vlhova became the first Slovakian winner of a women's World Cup giant slalom on Friday, benefiting from first-run leader Mikaela Shiffrin's uncharacteristic second run which saw the Olympic champion drop to fifth.
Vlhova buried her face in her hands after completing her final run and taking the lead in the race, before witnessing the top three racers from the first run fail to match her pace.
"It's amazing. I am really happy. I felt great and finally I had two perfect runs," said Vlhova, who was fourth after the opening run, trailing Shiffrin by 0.06 seconds, but posted the second-fastest time in the final leg to land her first victory in the discipline.
It was the fifth career win for the slalom specialist, whose previous best result in GS was seventh.
Mikaela Tommy of Wakefield, Que., finished 18th. Valerie Grenier of St-Isidore, Ont., came 25th, while Marie-Michele Gagnon of Lac-Etchemin, Que., was 29th.
World Cup GS champion Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany was the fastest in the final run as she climbed from 10th to second place, 0.45 behind Vlhova, and Tessa Worley of France trailed by 0.60 in third.
Shiffrin started the final run with a slim lead of 0.02 but the Olympic champion from the Unites States posted the 10th fastest time in the final run and finished 0.66 off the lead.
"It was tricky, it was really tight. But sometimes you push over the limit or in the wrong way," said Shiffrin, who had a five-race winning streak snapped.
The result meant Shiffrin missed out Friday on an outright record 15th World Cup victory in this calendar year, but she can still set the record if she wins a slalom on the same course Saturday, the last women's race in 2018.