Mikaela Shiffrin goes to her 31st birthday. in a World Cup slalom. In the slalom of Ofterschwang, the US-American seems to be threatened by two Austrians. After her first run, she is ahead of the ÖSV duo Katharina Gallhuber and Bernadette Schild. Gallhuber is 0.30 seconds behind, Schild stayed another 0.09 seconds behind.
Olympic champion Frida Hansdotter from Sweden is fourth and the Slovakian Petra Vlhova had to settle for sixth place. Shiffrin’s tenth place is enough to be the winner of the slalom world cups before the World Cup finals in Aare. Vlhova is 175 points behind in the discipline standings. The second round begins at 12:30.
Michaela Kirchgasser and Veronika Velez-Zuzulova, who each competed in their last World Cup races, will not be at the start. Both of them celebrated their run and stopped to hug coach and FIS race director Atle Skaardal. The Salzburg native Kirchgasser drove down without a helmet and in a dirndl and unbuckled her skis in front of the finish line. In the finish area they welcomed current and former team members with a champagne shower.