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Pier Marco Tacca/AP Photo
Mikaela Shiffrin finished second behind Sara Hector in the World Cup giant slalom in Janska, Slovakia, on a day when local hero Petra Vlhova suffered a season-ending injury.
“I felt like I skated the best I could in the second run, so I’m very happy,” Shiffrin told FIS Media.
“Sarah was just fun to watch her ski. You have to step back and say, ‘This is fun to watch.'”
Hector won the Lukova 2 course in 2 minutes, 17.80 seconds, beating Shiffrin by 1.52 seconds and earning his fifth career victory. New Zealand’s Alice Robinson (2:20.51) rounded out the podium.
“I feel so great. I’m so happy today. I’m just kind of speechless right now,” Hector said.
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“It’s so sad that Petra isn’t here. It’s such a beautiful crowd and it’s so cool to race here. The hills were really great today.”
Perhaps the biggest story of the day was that the defending Olympic slalom gold medalist, who was racing in front of 10,000 spectators about 17 kilometers from his hometown of Liptovsky Mikulas, slipped around gate 9. It took shape when I fell down. Vlois slipped into the fence at the side of the course and had to be sledded down the hill.
“Petra was taken to the hospital and her condition is stable,” Vulova’s team said, the Associated Press reported. “Petra is currently undergoing a medical examination.” The Associated Press said Vlhova suffered an “obvious knee injury” and that “many racers struggled on the icy surface of the Lukova 2 course, resulting in large time differences.”
“Unfortunately, I didn’t come here to hear good news,” Vlhova’s coach Mauro Pini told FIS media after the race through an interpreter about the injury.
“Petra has suffered a torn ligament in her right knee,” he continued.
“That means Petra’s season is over. From now on, we are considering future directions and the team is fully prepared to support her to come back as soon as possible and as strong as possible.” .”
Shiffrin or Vulois won all seven of this year’s World Cup slalom events.
Hector is so great in the second one
Shiffrin was a full two seconds behind Hector after the first run. Shiffrin, who leads all-time World Cup winners, said her strategy to move closer to second was to “take it like it’s a new race.”
Shiffrin’s all sector times were the second best of the day behind Hector on the second run. Although the American ended up giving up an additional 0.52 points to the Swede, he was satisfied that he was able to put forward what he felt was his best performance.
“I had a lot of fun skiing on the first run, but now I feel like I can just have fun,” Shiffrin said. “Try pushing, try skating like you have nothing to lose.”
Both Hector and Shiffrin were overwhelmed by the support and enthusiasm of the crowd, which cheered on the players during the inspection.
“They are very passionate about skiing here,” Hector said. “amazing.”
American representatives AJ Hart and Paula Molzahn finished 7th and 16th, respectively, with Mary Bocock unable to complete the first run and Elizabeth Bocock missing the second.
The silver medal was Shiffrin’s 149th career podium finish, and the Edwards skier moved within six seconds of Ingemar Stenmark’s all-time record. She will be hoping to break Stenmark’s slalom podium record (81) when the World Cup weekend continues on Sunday. The first and her second runs are at 1:30 and 4:15 a.m. MST, respectively.
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