Industry News
U.S. ski racer Mikaela Shiffrin won the Slalom event today, November 12, 2023, at the FIS Alpine World Cup in Levi in Finland, making it her seventh victory in Levi and winning her seventh reindeer. Traditionally the victor in the Finnish resort wins a reindeer presented to her by Santa Claus because Levi is close to the Arctic Circle and the Santa Claus village of Rovaniemi.
Slovakia’s Petra Vlhová had won the opening race of the World Cup on Saturday, awarding Olympic Gold medallist with her sixth reindeer and briefly tying her with Shiffrin for the number of Levi victories (and reindeer). Last season Shiffrin had won both Slalom events at the Finnish race, taking her herd to six. The American skier has thus far named her reindeer Lorax, Ingemar, Rudolph, Sunny, Sven, and Mr. Gru.
The weather was a bit more overcast than yesterday, but visibility was still good. The first run saw Mikaela Shiffrin with a fluid run in which she showed more aggression on the steeper section than on the previous day and gave her a time of 0:56:68 for her first run. With bib Number 2 today, Shiffrin was the second runner, and the American put herself in the lead a whole 3.32 seconds ahead of Sweden’s Anna Swenn Larsson with bib Number 1. The only one that beat Shiffrin’s time was Slovakia’s Petra Vlhová, who had won the previous day. Sara Hector from Sweden qualified for run 2 in third place, Lena Dürr from Germany in fourth, and Leona Popovic from Croatia in fifth. Ali Nullmeyer from Canada was just behind the top five in sixth position, and her teammate Laurence St. Germain, the current World Champion in Slalom, skied into ninth.
Unfortunately, 18 athletes recorded a DNF on the first run alone, including Team USA’s Paula Moltzan, who had finished 15th yesterday. AJ Hurt, Lila Lapanja, and Dasha Romanov from the American team finished in 53rd, 58th, and 59th place, respectively, which meant they did not qualify for run 2.
Run 2
Austria’s Katharina Liensberger shot in the lead from 11th place, which she had shared with Croatian Zrinka Ljutic. The Austrian had placed third yesterday, but today the podium was out of reach, finishing ultimately in eight. Her strong second run, however, showed that yesterday was not a fluke. The final ten is, of course, as always, where it gets really interesting. Canadian Laurence St. Germain, who had won the World Championships in Courchevel, put down a fast second run that was hard to rival in aggression. The top section had her attacking the Slalom poles with strong punches, but as she transferred to the steeper section, one of those punches caused her to lose grip on her ski pole. She managed to save it and regain control of her pole, but it cost her valuable milliseconds, and she finished in seventh place. Teammate Nullmeyer finished in sixth.
Fifth placed from the first run Leona Popovic catpulted herself into first place with a super aggressive run. In her very own unique style, the Croatian skier punched the Slalom poles much higher than many other skiers, but the aggression and high punches paid off, and the Croat took the lead by more than one second ahead of the Canadians. Fourth-placed Lena Duerr, who had placed second overall yesterday, was weaving without significant faults but seemed to lack the extra portion of aggression that had shot her into the lead yesterday. She could not beat the Croat and came in 0.12 seconds behind Popovic.
Third-placed Sara Hector had an open bill from yesterday, where she had come in fifth place and showed she meant business when she shot out of the gates with a strong run, but it was not enough to knock Popovic off the leader’s seat, coming in 0.48 seconds behind the leader Popovic and 0.36 seconds behind Dürr.
Then all eyes were on the second-last starter, Mikaela Shiffrin. The American had not podiumed the previous day, and the rivalry between Shiffrin and first-placed Vlhova is certainly one for the history books. Shiffrin had a 1.19-second lead on Popovic from run 1, and while she put down a fast top section on her second run, the American struggled to keep that lead on the steeper mid-section. Her lead diminished, but it was still enough to beat Popovic with 0.18 seconds and move into first place.
Then first placed Vlhová shot out of the gates and weaved down the top in the fastest time of all starters. She carried the top speed into the steeper section and skied into the steep section with much aggression, gaining more time. Her eyes were set on victory, but aggression comes at a price, Vlhova made a tiny mistake, and her right ski went on the wrong side of the Slalom pole, resulting in an instant disqualification.
It was an abrupt end to the race, and even Shiffrin was disappointed her arch-rival was disqualified. The whole crowd seemed in disbelief and was eerily quiet and watched as a gutted Vlhová stood, head lowered on the side of the course, trying to come to terms with the fact that her race for victory had just suddenly ended with a DSQ.
There were hugs in the finish area, and Shiffrin could be seen saying “I’m so sorry” to the devastated Slovakian. In the interview following her sudden victory, the humble victor said, “I would say Petra and her team earned this victory today. Actually, that was really bad luck for her, so it’s a little bittersweet. I’m really happy with the victory, but I have to give her the credit. She earned it. Probably a second and a half by the bottom, at least. So it was amazing to watch her ski these last two days.” Unfortunately, this is all part of racing, and all of them have been there, not least of all Shiffrin, who famously got disqualified in the Olympics in her two favorite disciplines, Slalom and Giant Slalom.
