FLACHAU, Austria (AP) — Austrian skier Katharina Liensberger dominated the first run of a women’s World Cup slalom Tuesday, continuing her recent return to form three weeks before the world championships on home soil.
In the absence of injured slalom stars Mikaela Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova, Liensberger rode a smooth race under the lights to build a big lead of 0.75 seconds over Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener.
Olympic giant slalom champion Sara Hector of Sweden was 0.94 behind in third and was the only other finisher with less than a second to make up in the final run later Tuesday.
“My plan was to really attack from the first gate, just to ski fast to the limit,” Liensberger said.
Zrinka Ljutic, who led the discipline standings after winning the last two slaloms, failed to qualify for the second round. The Croatian was slowed by an error early in her race and finished 3.70 seconds behind.
The 2025 Alpine Ski World Championships will take place in Saalbach-Hinterglemm from February 4 to 16.
Liensberger surprised Shiffrin and Vlhova four years ago when the Austrian won both the world champion and World Cup titles in slalom.
The Austrian has won three World Cup slaloms, but none since March 2022. With two podiums and three more top-10 results, 2024-25 is Liensberger’s best campaign since.
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Liensberger is aiming to become the first Austrian winner of the annual night race since Marlies Raich, then competing under her maiden name Schild, won it 14 years ago.
The last skier other than Shiffrin or Vlhova to win the race was Frida Hansdotter in 2017, a year before the Swede won Olympic gold in slalom.
Shiffrin, who won the first two slaloms this season, is recovering from abdominal surgery to clean out a deep wound she suffered in a GS fall in November while seeking to win his 100th career victory.
The American returned to on-snow training last week but no date has been set for her return to racing.
Vlhova has been out since her knee surgery a year ago.
Lindsey Vonn, who made an impressive return to the World Cup this season after nearly six years away from the circuit, is competing only in the downhill and super-G speed events and plans to race in Cortina d’Ampezzo , in Italy, next weekend. .
Ski AP: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
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