SOLDEU, Andorra: Swedish skier Anna Swenn Larsson earned her second profession victory Sunday within the first girls’s World Cup slalom in almost 13 years with neither Mikaela Shiffrin nor Petra Vlhova competing.
The American star and her Slovakian rival, whose gripping duels have been dominating girls’s slalom racing for years, are each out with knee accidents.
“It’s unbelievable, and for sure it’s sad that not the two queens are here, but I’m so happy to grab a victory,” Swenn Larsson stated.
While Shiffrin nonetheless hopes to return over the following few weeks, Vlhova had her season ended when she tore ligaments in her proper knee in January.
Shiffrin harm her left knee, however prevented harm to the ligaments, whereas touchdown from a soar and crashing into the security netting at a downhill in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, 16 days in the past.
Swenn Larsson defended her first-run lead and beat Croatian prodigy Zrinka Ljutic by 0.35 seconds. After ending, she lay down on the snow for 15 seconds.
“I didn’t see much of green lights in the first half of the season, but I have been feeling really well lately,” stated the Swede, who has been hampered by persistent decrease-again issues however secured a World Cup podium spot with a 3rd-place end in Jasna in January.
“From not qualifying and being 24th (at slaloms last November) in Levi, it’s a journey. I’m so proud of myself and of my team that worked really hard to get me back in shape,” she stated.
Swenn Larsson beforehand shared a win with Wendy Holdener in Killington, Vermont, in November 2022 and was one in all simply 5 starters in Sunday’s race who had gained a World Cup slalom earlier than.
“It’s a dream come true. Even if it was so nice to share the first victory with Wendy, it’s special to stand on the top by yourself as well,” she stated.
Shiffrin’s teammate Paula Moltzan was 0.83 behind in third for her second profession slalom podium, lower than 14 months after she was runner-as much as Shiffrin at an evening race in Austria.
“It’s kind of been a season with highs and lows. So, happy to finally take a step on the podium,” Moltzan stated. “The emotions are all there and I’m super happy.”
Moltzan’s achievement got here a day after AJ Hurt completed third in a large slalom. On Sunday, Hurt was thirteenth after the opening leg however straddled a gate in her all-attacking second run and didn’t end.
The final World Cup slalom the place neither Shiffrin nor Vlhova took half was on the 2010-11 season finals in Switzerland on March 18, 2011.
Shiffrin has missed eight of the 117 slaloms since. The American, who holds the World Cup file of 58 slalom wins, and Vlhova mixed to win 80 of these 117 occasions.
Shiffrin leads the season standings after successful 5 of the 9 slaloms up to now. Her solely remaining challenger for the globe, Lena Duerr, trails the American by 188 factors with solely two occasions remaining. A race win is value 100 factors.
Duerr, who wanted to complete no decrease than ninth Sunday to remain in rivalry, was 1.38 seconds behind Swenn Larsson in sixth.
After her first run, Duerr stated she was “not at all” affected by ideas about her possibilities of closing in on chief Shiffrin.
“It’s obvious people start asking me about it with Petra and Mikaela missing, but for me the approach to the race is exactly the same. It doesn’t change anything for me,” Duerr stated.
If seven-time winner Shiffrin takes the self-discipline title once more, she would match the World Cup file collectively held by Lindsey Vonn and Ingemar Stenmark, who every had eight titles in a single self-discipline — Vonn in downhill, Stenmark in each slalom and GS.
The penultimate slalom of the season is scheduled for Are, Sweden, on March 10, per week earlier than the World Cup finals begin in Austria.
The girls’s World Cup subsequent travels to Switzerland for 3 velocity races in Crans-Montana beginning Friday.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is printed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
