Olympic champion Petra Vlhova denied an ill Mikaela Shiffrin‘s first bid to break the women’s Alpine skiing World Cup wins record.
The Slovakian Vlhova won a slalom by 43 hundredths of a second combining times from two runs in Flachau, Austria, on Tuesday night.
Shiffrin threw up in a finish area tent after “fighting a stomach bug all day,” a member of her team said.
Vlhova had the fastest first run by 17 hundredths over Shiffrin and the second-fastest second run as the last racer to go, knocking Shiffrin down to second place.
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“Mikaela said [after the first run] her body was achy and she was trying to hold it together for the second run,” Shiffrin’s team member said.
Shiffrin smiled, applauded and gave a thumbs-up moments after Vlhova finished. The rivals hugged.
“I don’t feel very well, but that’s not surprising at the end of a long stretch of races,” Shiffrin, who just finished a run of seven races in 15 days (with five wins), said on Austrian broadcaster ORF. “No matter what, Petra skied amazing tonight, and she deserves the victory.”
Shiffrin was bidding to break her tie with Lindsey Vonn for the most Alpine skiing World Cup victories for a woman. Shiffrin tied Vonn on Sunday with her 82nd victory and her eighth win this season.
Shiffrin plans to skip this weekend’s speed races in Austria and return for Jan. 20-22 speed races in Cortina d’Ampezzo, the 2026 Olympic venue, followed by two giant slaloms and a slalom leading into February’s world championships break.
Vlhova earned her first win since March, ending a 19-race winless stretch, her longest in nearly six years.
“Was long, long way [to wait],” she said. “If you beat Mikaela right now, it’s something huge.”
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