Liensberger wins Åre slalom; Vlhová, Shiffrin both miss podium
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Associated Press
ÅRE, Sweden — Austrian skier Katharina Liensberger won the penultimate women’s World Cup slalom Saturday as pre-race favorites Petra Vlhová and Mikaela Shiffrin both failed to make the podium.
Vlhová was second after the opening run but dropped to fourth, while Shiffrin lost five positions in the final run and finished ninth.
Paula Moltzan finished in 11th, only separated from Shiffrin by Andreja Slokar.
The American will take a 56-point lead over her Slovakian rival in the overall standings into the World Cup Finals in France next week, which features one race in each of the four disciplines.
Shiffrin is chasing her fourth overall title; Vlhová won her maiden title last season.
Vlhová had won five of the previous seven slaloms this season and had already locked up the slalom title; Shiffrin won the other two events.
Mina Fürst Holtmann was 0.16 seconds behind in second for her third career podium but first in slalom. Michelle Gisin improved from sixth to place third, trailing Liensberger by 0.23.
Gisin’s Swiss teammate Wendy Holdener skipped the race, a day after crashing in a giant slalom.
Lena Dürr was fastest in the opening run, leading a tight group of six skiers that also included Vlhová and Shiffrin. But the German posted only the 22nd-fastest time in the final run and finished in fifth, 0.34 seconds behind Liensberger.
Dürr was aiming to become the first German winner of a women’s slalom in nearly 10 years, after Maria Höfl-Riesch triumphed in Levi in November 2012.
Dürr also led the Olympic slalom race in Beijing after the first run but missed a medal after dropping to fourth.
Liensberger won her first race since ending last season with back-to-back slalom victories, which earned her the discipline title, just weeks after she also upset Vlhová and Shiffrin to take gold at the world championships in Italy.
Anna Swenn Larsson of Sweden was third after the opening run but failed to finish the second run of her home race in Sweden.
This is a developing story, stay tuned for more.
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