\nLEVI, Finland (AP) \u2014 Overall World Cup champion Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States wasted no time in taking control of a new season, sweeping the two season-opening races on Sunday.
\nShiffrin posted the fastest time in both runs on the way to her 49th slalom victory, just a day after winning another slalom in Finnish Lapland. No other skier has won more titles in a single competition than the 27-year-old Colorado native.
\n\u201cTwo races in a row like that, it\u2019s a really big effort so I\u2019m just very happy,\u201d Shiffrin said.
\nShe reached her 68th slalom podium, also a record in the women\u2019s competition, one more than compatriot Lindsey Vonn in downhill races.
\n\u201cI really didn\u2019t expect today,\u201d Shiffrin said. \u201cI mean even after the first run. I think everyone who is racing is so strong right now and there\u2019s so much, actually, a little bit of luck.\u201d
\nShiffrin had a slim 0.07 second first-run lead over Lena D\u00fcrr, with her rival Vlhov\u00e1 of Slovakia having 0.1 of a second to make up in the second run in third.
\nThe American produced a near perfect second run to hold off the charging Wendy Holdener and beat the Swiss by 0.28 seconds.
\n\u201cThis second run I was pushing as hard as I could push,\u201d she said. \u201cI made adjustments and it felt like a really good pace and tempo. I was strong and solid everywhere.\u201d
\nIt was the 30th slalom podium for Holdener who still has to win in the discipline. It\u2019s the most World Cup podium finishes without a win in the discipline. Holdener moved up to second from fourth after the second best time in the second run.
\n\u201cIt was really nice today and I hope for more,\u201d she said.
\nSlalom Olympic champion and last season\u2019s World Cup slalom winner Vlhov\u00e1 was third, matching her result on Saturday, 0.68 behind the leader.
\n\u201cI\u2019m quite satisfied because two times the third place,\u201d Vlhov\u00e1 said. \u201cOf course, it could be a little bit better. We know that we have to improve, that we have to be faster so we will try to make it in the next race.\u201d
\nShiffrin leads the overall standings with 200 points, with Holdener second 75 points behind and Vlhov\u00e1 another five points back in third.
\nWith 76 World Cup wins, the four-time overall champion is only behind Swedish skiing great Ingemar Stenmark (86) and Vonn (82).
\nHer next chance to add to her records will come in front of a home crowd.
\nThe women\u2019s World Cup moves to the United States next weekend for a giant slalom on Saturday and another slalom on Sunday in Killington, Vermont.
\nShiffrin and Vlhov\u00e1 have dominated the field in this Finnish resort in recent years.
\nNo skier other than Vlhov\u00e1 or Shiffrin has won the traditional season-opening events since then-overall champion Tina Maze triumphed in 2014.
\nHer sixth victory earned the American a sixth reindeer \u2014 a traditional prize the winner receives in Levi where Shiffrin also won in 2013, \u201916, \u201918 and \u201919.
\nVlhov\u00e1 has five wins, and a herd of five. The animals remain on a local farm in Finland.
\nGermany\u2019s D\u00fcrr also matched her fourth-place finished on Saturday, 0.97 seconds behind Shiffrin with Olympic giant slalom champion Sara Hector of Sweden fifth, 1.42 second back.
\nAmericans Katie Hensien and Ava Sunshine placed 26th and 27th, respectively, with Paula Moltzan crashing in the second run.
\nA total of 22 skiers didn\u2019t finish the opening run, including Anna Swenn Larsson of Sweden who took second on Saturday and Americans Zoe Zimmermann and Nina O\u2019Brien.
\nThe two slalom events in Levi opened the women\u2019s World Cup season after all four previously scheduled races were cancelled due to warm weather.<\/p>\n
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LEVI, Finland (AP) \u2014 Overall World Cup champion Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States wasted no time in taking control of a new season, sweeping the two season-opening races on Sunday. Shiffrin posted the fastest time in both runs on the way to her 49th slalom victory, just a day after winning another slalom in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-205316","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205316\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}