Petra Vlhova wins Slovakia’s 1st Alpine gold at Olympics

BEIJING (AP) — Petra Vlhova added an Olympic gold medal to her growing list of achievements, winning the women’s slalom at the Beijing Games on Wednesday.

It was Slovakia’s first Olympic medal in Alpine skiing and helped Vlhova atone for her poor performance in Monday’s giant slalom.

Her biggest rival, two-time Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin, went out in the first run of that race and the American again failed to finish her opening run on Wednesday.

Vlhova, who already has clinched the World Cup slalom title, finished an unexpected 14th in the giant slalom and looked set for more disappointment when she completed the first slalom run down the Ice River course in eighth, 0.72 seconds behind leader Lena Dürr.

But last season’s overall World Cup champion made it up on the second run — which was set by her coach Mauro Pini — for an unofficial combined time of 1 minute, 44.98 seconds.

The 26-year-old Vlhova rushed over to hug her teammates and coach after Dürr crossed the line in fourth place.

The 30-year-old Dürr burst into tears when she realized she had missed out on what would have been a first medal at a major championship.

Katharina Liensberger of Austria, who won the World Cup and world championship slalom titles last year, was 0.08 slower than Vlhova over the two legs. Wendy Holdener of Switzerland was 0.12 behind Vlhova to add bronze to the silver medal she won in the slalom at the Pyeongchang Games in 2018.

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