U.S. ski racer Mikaela Shiffrin extended her reindeer herd by winning her eighth reindeer at the FIS World Cup Slalom event in Levi, Finland, on Saturday, November 16. It marks the American skier’s 98th World Cup career victory.
It was a tricky race in Levi, with fog, light rain, and low visibility at the start of Run 1 and thick snowfall towards the end of Run 1. The conditions improved for Run 2 but low light conditions remained throughout the day at Levi, which is close to the Arctic circle.
Slalom races are held in two runs with the combined time counting. Only the top fastest 30 skiers from Run 1 qualify for Run 2.  Run 2 is conducted in reverse order, with the fastest skier from Run 1 skiing last.
Croatia’s Zrinka Ljutic was first out of the gate and skied a fast time that could not be beaten by the next four skiers, Katharina Liensberger, Michelle Gisin, Anna Swenn Larsson, and Wendy Holdener. However, Germany’s Lena Dürr, whose coach Markus Lenz had set the course for run 1, snatched the lead from Ljutic by 0.13 seconds.
Dürr held the fastest time for only two skiers and had to bow out from the leader’s seat to Mikaela Shiffrin, who effortlessly weaved her way down the foggy course 0.6 seconds faster than the German. Shiffrin’s teammate Paula Moltzan qualified for Run 2 in fifth place, while Katie Hensien and Nina O’Brien unfortunately recorded a DNF, and Kendahl Roufa missed out on Run 2 after finishing in 59th place.
The best Canadian skier in Run 1 was Ali Nullmeyer, who qualified for Run 2 in 12th place, while teammates Laurence St. Germain and Amelia Smart qualified in 27th and 28th place respectively. Alpine Canada’s Kiki Alexander, who celebrated her comeback to the World Cup circuit after a devastating knee injury almost two years ago, unfortunately recorded a DNF.
In an interview after Run 1, Shiffrin described her skiing: ”It felt really good, I will say solid technique and good energy. I was pushing. Even with a little bit of ‘first-slalom-nerves-feeling,’ it went well,” Mikaela Shiffrin concluded after her first run. Shiffrin admitted to missing fellow ski racer Petra Vlhova and said she skied imagining the Slovak skier competing as well. Vlhova announced recently that it was too soon for her to compete at Levi after her injury last season.
Anything can happen in Run 2 but typically the race is decided amongst the top five skiers from Run 1. The difficulty of going last in Run 2 for the top skiers means they are facing a skied out and often warmer run than the first, slower skiers. What boded well for Shiffrin was that the course for Run 2 was set by Team USA’s coach, Rudi Soulard. The Frenchman became the Head Coach of the Stifel U.S. Alpine Team. He was previously assistant coach of the technical team.
First out of the gate for Run 2 was Clarisse Breche in bib 58 who narrowly qualified in 30th place ahead of Switzerland’s Elena Stoffel. Breche finished the race with a combined time of 1:49.48, which saw the French skier in the leader’s position for three skiers until Canada’s Laurence St. Germain fought into the lead 0.03 seconds ahead of Breche. Breche’s time was ultimately an impressive 12th place. St. Germain was unseated in the leader’s seat by 0.71 seconds by Germany’s Emma Aicher, who scored the fastest second run of the day. Aicher is once again competing across all four Alpine disciplines this season. It was ultimately ninth place for the German-Swedish dual citizen, which is a personal best in Slalom for the 21-year-old and the second time she has achieved that feat after a ninth place in Flachau, Austria, last year.
Emma Aicher held on to her leadership position for quite a while and was finally bumped down by Switzerland’s Melanie Meillard who was 10th last starter of Run 2 (or 10th fastest from Run 1). Meillard was in turn unseated by teammate Camille Rast, while Paula Moltzan struggled with the steep mid-section. In the end it was eighth place for Moltzan.
Austria’s Katharina Liensberger who had the fourth fastest time from Run 1 skied into the lead by almost half a second ahead of Anna Swenn Larsson. Third last skier was Zrinka Ljutic who is known for risking everything on Run 2, which unfortunately sometimes means mistakes under pressure. Ljutic was fluid and without major mistakes but could not quite carry her top speed across the finish line and finished in ultimately sixth place.
Second last skier was Lena Dürr. The German has yet to win a World Cup Slalom race and unfortunately also today could not quite bring the great performance from Run 1 into her second run. She battled hard but them steep section cost her the lead and she skied across the finish line 0.04 seconds behind Liensberger into what was ultimately third place.
Shiffrin was the last skier and demonstrated why the American has been dominant in Slalom. She extended her lead from Run 1 across the top section, went cautiously but with enough aggression into the steep mid-section where she gave back a few milliseconds but carried a 0.79 second lead over Liensberger across the finish line.
The races at Levi continue with a Men’s Slalom race on Sunday, November 17. The women’s races will continue in Gurgl, Austria, next weekend with another Slalom race.
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