Gisin ends Shiffrin-Vlhova slalom stranglehold

[December 31, 2020]    (Reuters) - Michelle Gisin on Tuesday became the first Swiss woman in nearly 19 years to win a World Cup Alpine skiing slalom when she finished first under the floodlights in Semmering, Austria.

Michelle Gisin of Switzerland in action Jussi Nukari/Lehtikuva via REUTERS

The victory in the last women's race of the year also ended a dominant run by American Mikaela Shiffrin and Slovakia's Petra Vlhova, who between them had won every World Cup slalom since January 2017 -- a sequence of 28 races.

"It's crazy. I broke the incredible run of two giants," said Gisin.

Shiffrin had led after the first leg by 0.02 but Gisin, the 2018 Olympic combined gold medallist, went faster over the second run.

"I was really pushing on the second run and I didn’t handle that very well. I made some mistakes, but then again, I could have been out of the course," said Shiffrin, who completes a calendar year without a slalom win for the first time since 2012.

Austria's Katharina Liensberger finished second, 0.11 slower, with Shiffrin third for her 43rd podium in the last 46 slaloms.

The last Swiss woman to win a World Cup slalom was Marlies Oester in Berchtesgaden in January 2002.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

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