Sawt Falasteen - Superb Shiffrin wins Killington World Cup slalom

The 28-year-old American, five-time winner of the overall World Cup rankings, beat off the challenge of her Slovakian rival Petra Vlhova and Switzerland's Wendy Holdener to claim her record-extending 90th win.

Last season, Shiffrin broke Ingemar Stenmark's record for wins on the world circuit (86), and appears to be heading inexorably for the century mark.

In front of her home crowd, and one day after finishing third in the giant, Shiffrin led after the first run.

She was quickest again on the second, holding off Vlhova by 0.33sec.

It follows her victory in a slalom in Levi, Finland a fortnight ago.

"This track is incredible. The crowd helps me here, they're so noisy, I can even hear them shouting at every split time," Shiffrin, who has now won six of the seven World Cup slaloms at Killington since 2016, told NBC.

"Every time I pass one, I hear them get louder, and I’m like, 'Oh man, I don’t know if I’m ahead or behind, but either way, I’ve got to push.

"It's amazing to ski with that kind of energy."

Shiffrin's season got off to a rocky start when she bruised a bone in her left knee in a training crash in October, missing significant training time.

Fourth in the opening slalom won by Vlhova in Levi, Shiffrin bounced back the next day to claim victory, taking full advantage when Olympic champion Vlhova, the first-run leader, straddled a gate on the second run.

Sunday offered another Shiffrin-Vlhova duel. The American, leading after the first run, was put to the test by her Slovak rival's storming second run, but responded magnificently to seize the win.

The two were in a class by themselves, Holdener claiming third more than a second behind Vlhova.

"Today I earned it in a way," said Shiffrin. "After the victory in Finland I didn't dare to hope that this would happen here because Petra was skiing so fast and she's so consistent."

Vlhova settled for a fifth runner-up slalom finish in Killington.

"At the end, second place again here," she said. "The second run, I needed to push if I wanted to be on the top.

"When I crossed the finish line, I thought maybe it can be enough but Mikaela was stronger."

Since March 2017, the two skiers have between them occupied the top two places in slalom 22 times. Shiffrin has 55 slalom wins among her 90 World Cup victories and Vlhova has 20.

Shiffrin, who won her fifth overall World Cup title last season, leads this season's standings with 350 points, 84 ahead of Vlhova as the women head into two giant slalom races at Tremblant, Canada, next week.

D.Khalil--SF-PST