Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova yesterday produced a stunning second leg to win Olympic slalom gold after the US’ Mikaela Shiffrin slid out of medal contention with a botched first run.
Vlhova clocked a combined total of 1 minute, 44.98 seconds over the two runs to edge Austria’s reigning world champion Katharina Liensberger into silver by 0.08 seconds, with Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener claiming bronze 0.12 seconds behind Vlhova.
“I gave everything I had, and at the end I am Olympic champion,” Vlhova said. “I have been dreaming all my life to win an Olympics or just to have medals. I have a lot of emotions right now, inside of me. This season I was really strong and today I gave everything.”
Photo: AFP
Shiffrin, as she had done in the giant slalom at these Games, slid out of the first leg of the slalom to blast the field wide open.
A double Olympic gold medalist, she was one of the big favorites.
“I feel a lot of disappointment. My performance is a huge letdown so far,” Shiffrin said. “Today I wish there had been a little more space and more time.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
Shiffrin made an absolute hash of her run, sliding wide on a turn high up to make it impossible to realign quickly enough for the next gate.
Shocked gasps rang around the finish area where a few hundred spectators watched in silence as the 26-year-old immediately skied to the side of the course, slumping down in the snow, head in hands.
After seven of the nine slalom races of this FIS Alpine Ski World Cup season, Vlhova tops the standings ahead of Shiffrin.
The Slovak has six world championship medals to her name, but has drawn a blank at the last two Olympics, with a best finish of fifth, and she has often had to settle for second best to Shiffrin on the biggest stages.
Yet on the testing Ice River course at the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre north of Beijing, it was Vlhova who held her nerve after finishing eighth fastest in the first run.
The 26-year-old laid down the fastest second run and watched on with increasing nervousness as the seven racers ahead of her failed to match her time.
“Honestly, it was really difficult to be calm and focused on my skiing, but I had a lot of power from my team. They trusted me, they believed in me and they repeated to me: ‘You are so strong, just ski free, enjoy and focus on your skiing, nothing else,’” Vlhova said.
A total of 51 nations were represented in the 88-strong turnout for the first leg from skiing minnows as diverse as Taiwan, Hungary, Israel, Lebanon, Madagascar, Malaysia, Peru, Thailand and Turkey.
Taiwan’s Lee Wen-yi placed 50th with a total time of 2 minutes, 46.04 seconds after two runs. She was 1 minute, 1.06 seconds behind Vlhova.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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