After almost thirteen years, the two biggest stars of the discipline were absent from the start of the World Cup slalom. Both Petra Vlhová and Mikaela Shiffrinová are recovering from their injuries, so after more than a year, the competition had an opportunity to break another series of American-Slovak victories. Due to the absence of both female skiers, the hegemony was successfully broken, despite this, a new conqueror did not emerge from the race.

Swede Anna Swennová-Larssonová was happy about her victory in Soldeu. Although her triumph was smooth from the position of the leader of the first round, the road to it was more difficult. In the opening slalom of the season, she lost four seconds to the winner Petra Vlhová, but in the next she did not advance to the second round.

The turn to better results occurred at the end of the calendar year, when she finished in 4th place in Lienzi, Austria. As a result, she stabilized among the top five and improved her performance in Andorra. It was her second victory in the World Cup, but at the same time her first solo victory. She shared the premiership win with Swiss Wendy Holdener in the previous season.

“It’s a dream come true and while it was nice to share the first win with Wendy, it’s special for me to stand on top alone. It’s a journey, from not qualifying for round 2 in Levi to winning, it’s amazing. I am proud of myself,” she was fighting back tears after the race. At the same time, she indicated that the absence of the biggest competition did not take away from her joy. “It’s sad that there aren’t two queens, but I’m happy that I won.”

Anna Swennová Larssonová. Source: SITA/AP

The Swede belongs to the narrow circle of women skiers who managed to grab the triumph in the era of Mikaela Shiffrinová and Petra Vlhová. In addition to her, five other competitors did it – German Lena Dürrová, Swiss Wendy Holdenerová and Michelle Gisinová, Slovenian Andreja Slokarová and Austrian Katharina Liensbergerová. Gisin, Slokar and Dürr managed to do it only once, Larsson and Holdener twice. Liensbergerová remains the most successful, with three victories to her credit.

However, she fell short of her expectations in Andorra and admitted that she is not in a position to repeat the performances of years ago. “I know that I am far from perfect and I know that even today’s top 10 position is not the goal where I would like to be. But at the moment it’s a journey and every day counts to reach my personal best.”

The elite club has already grown almost twice by adding a seventh member. The young Croatian Zrinka Ljutičová is asking for a place. In Jasná, she was only 14 hundredths of a second behind the first Mikaela Shiffrin, and 35 hundredths of a second behind the last winner. The nineteen-year-old skier is not worried about the two second places, she will wait for the victory.

“I was very surprised when I saw that I was (in progress) first at the finish line, because I felt all kinds of things on the hill. But I felt I had some pace from the top, so I fought and I’m glad it paid off. Of course, I was hoping to make it, but I have time. It doesn’t matter yet. It’s great to have two podiums in a row.”

Zrinka Ljutičová. Source: SITA/AP

Until the end of the season, there are only two slaloms on the World Cup program. Even if Mikaela Shiffrin was not allowed to participate in the race, or if she was not allowed on the top step of the podium after her rival returned, most likely no one will deprive her of the small globe.

Only Lena Dürrová has a theoretical chance, losing 188 points to the leader of the discipline. To succeed, her American competitor would not be able to score any points and the German would have to win both remaining races. However, after the competition in Kranjska Gora, she is troubled by a crisis of results and has problems to return to the top 5.

2024-02-13 16:20:00
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