LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland — Petra Vlhova closed in on the overall World Cup title in Alpine skiing on Saturday though a tricky opening run in slalom left her sixth behind leader Katharina Liensberger.
Vlhova needs only one top-14 finish this weekend to edge Lara Gut-Behrami for the overall title. Gut-Behrami skips slalom but will start in giant slalom on Sunday.
Aiming to be the first Slovakian overall World Cup champion, Vlhova lost speed almost going out early in her run and trailed Liensberger by 1.84 seconds.
Mikaela Shiffrin was third-fastest with 0.90 to make up on Liensberger, the slalom gold medalist at the world championships last month, in the second run this afternoon. Kristin Lysdahl was second, 0.70 back.
Liensberger became the provisional leader in the season-long slalom standings in a three-way contest with Shiffrin and Vlhova.
Vlhova started the day 21 points ahead of Liensberger, who would get 100 points for a race win. Shiffrin must finish ahead of Liensberger in Saturday’s race to have a chance of winning a seventh World Cup slalom title.
Vlhova is the defending champion in slalom but her opening run suggested the tension of protecting her lead in the overall standings.
“Yes, it was strange, also difficult for me,” Vlhova said in an interview with Swiss broadcaster RTS. “I (made) a mistake in the second or third gate and from there it was difficult to take confidence.”
Shiffrin is a three-time overall champion though chose to focus on technical events this season and did not start in super-G or downhill in the World Cup.
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