Petra Vlhova storms to fourth Levi slalom victory

Petra Vlhova was in scintillating form as she claimed the first Alpine Skiing World Cup slalom of the new season in Levi, Finland on Saturday (20 November).

The reigning World Cup overall champion led old rival Mikaela Shiffrin by 0.11s after the first run.

The double Olympic gold medallist put the pressure on with a fine second run, but the Slovakian racer posted the quickest time again to win by 0.31s.

Germany's Lena Duerr was second fastest on the second run to move up from sixth to third.

It was Duerr's second individual World Cup podium finish with her first coming by virtue of victory in the Moscow City Event back in January 2013.

This was Vlhova's fourth Levi slalom win, matching Shiffrin's tally in Finland, and her 21st World Cup win in total.

Fresh from her parallel win in Lech/Zuers last weekend, Slovenia's Andreja Slokar took fourth with Anna Swenn Larsson - racing for the first time since February 2020 after recovering from a broken ankle - in fifth place.

Reigning World Cup slalom champion Katharina Liensberger was sixth.

In her post-race interview, Vlhova said, "I start to love Finland. Here in this kind of slope, I really like skiing because it's something special for me. It's not often that I win every year on the same slope, but here I did it again and I'm really happy because it wasn't easy."

The winner of the Levi slalom traditionally receives a reindeer with Vlhova revealing that she will name hers Michal after her boyfriend who she called "the love of my life".

Vlhova is now third in the overall World Cup standings with Shiffrin overtaking Slokar at the top.

Both the American and Vlhova have a chance of a record fifth Levi triumph in the second of two back-to-back slalom races on Sunday.