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Vlhova in slalom pole as Shiffrin hunts Vonn's record / Photo: © AFP
Vlhova in slalom pole as Shiffrin hunts Vonn's record
Slovakia's Petra Vlhova sat in pole after the first leg of the women's World Cup slalom race in Flachau on Tuesday, just ahead of record-seeking Mikaela Shiffrin.
Vlhova laid down the fastest run in 55.90 seconds, 0.17sec ahead of her American rival in second.
The pair were well ahead of the rest of the field under floodlights on the Griessenkar piste, with only Croatian teenager Zrinka Ljutic and Germany's Lena Duerr also within one second of reigning Olympic champion Vlhova.
The second leg is scheduled for 1945 GMT.
An 83rd World Cup victory would see Shiffrin surpass now-retired compatriot Lindsey Vonn as the female skier with most wins on the elite alpine skiing circuit.
To date, Shiffrin's 82 wins have been across all formats: slalom (51), giant slalom (17), super-G (5), downhill (3), city events (3), parallel slalom (2) and alpine combined (1).
Shiffrin picked up the first of those just over 10 years ago when she was only 17 and has taken just 233 starts to equal Vonn's record. Vonn, by way of contrast, started 395 races in her 13-year career -- she retired in 2019 at the age of 34.
Shiffrin is also just four wins shy of matching the overall record of 86 World Cup victories held by Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark, who dominated the men's slalom and giant slalom disciplines for a decade from 1975 before retiring in 1989.
J.Michalak--GL
