ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Only her Slovak rival Petra Vlhova remained out of reach. Otherwise, Mikaela Shiffrin made a satisfactory return to competition in a lighted slalom on Tuesday after testing positive for recent times and not found two races last week.
The American overtook winner Vlhova in the first World Cup race of the calendar year by five tenths of a second.
“I think I skied really well,” Shiffrin said. “Especially after the last two weeks, it’s really wonderful to come back. That I can ride some of my best slalom is really cool.”
Shiffrin, who was allowed to run on Monday, was the only one competing in the conditions of the race, which was difficult to finish in less than two seconds, the winner Vlhova, while the world champion in giant slalom, Katharina Liensberger, the third, was condemned of a delay of 2.11 seconds.
Two weeks ago, Shiffrin finished first and second in two giant slaloms in France, but tested positive in recent times before two technical races in Austria the following week.
“After Courchevel, my tank was completely empty, so I needed time to rest, and then I had a lot of time to rest,” Shiffrin said. “It wasn’t really a recovery and I couldn’t do any real exercises or train for 10 days or more.”
Vlhova won the slalom in the Lienz Dolomites, while Shiffrin was in quarantine last week. She won four of the five slaloms this season and leads the discipline standings with 140 points ahead of Shiffrin with four races. The American remained at the top of the standings with a 115-point lead over her Slovak rival.
Her enormous deficit in the slalom ranking made Shiffrin aware that she had “nothing to lose”, because winning a seventh title of the season in her strongest discipline seems far away to her.
“I’m no longer competing around the globe. There are just too many things that have happened so far this year, so I’m just trying to push every sleeve,” the American said.
“These two races today is the best training I can have,” she continued. “It’s a good exercise, both bodily and mentally. If nothing else, I’m back on track, step by step, and today is a very, very big step.”
Vlhova still retained a lead over Shiffrin with her third consecutive victory in the traditional first slalom race of the calendar year, which the American had won four times.
“It was really difficult because the conditions weren’t so perfect,” said Vlhova, who has won 11 of the last 17 World Cup slaloms. “In addition, Zagreb is really long, so when you go to the last step, you start to feel your legs, so you have to breathe again and start all over again.”
The surface of the soft snow on the track Crveni Spills and the gusts of wind whipping swirls leaves have the difficult conditions and the race had to be interrupted after 17 starts to the second round, because the organizers have removed the banners of the finish line for safety reasons in the middle of the winds croissants.
Liensberger was one of many riders who wasted a lot of time or even skied and ran through a hole in the snow surface about 15 seconds after the race. Shiffrin and Vlhova chose a wider line to avoid the obstacle and pass the next gate without problems, while gaining about a second over most competitors.
Wendy Holdener, who was third after the first run, also struggled on this place and fell to fourth place, just ahead of Ali Nullmeyer. The Canadian ski racer has the best time of the second round and improved from 17th place to her best career result.
At least seven riders, including three from the Swiss team, had to leave the event after testing positive for recent times, which requires a 10-day quarantine and a negative test before they were allowed to return to the circuit.
No spectator was allowed to attend the race on the outskirts of the Croatian capital, which is usually one of the most visited events of the women’s calendar.
The Women’s World Cup will continue this weekend with a GS and a slalom in Kranjska Gora, an event that was moved from another Slovenian station, Maribor, due to lack of snow.