WATCH: 2x Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin finishes fourth in first World Cup slalom of season following training crash

American skier Mikaela Shiffrin missed out on finishing in the top three at the first World Cup slalom in Finland.

WATCH: 2x Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin finishes fourth in first World Cup slalom of season following training crash

Mikaela Shiffrin (Pic Credit: @Mikaela Shiffrin via YouTube)

All eyes in the skiing world were on Mikaela Shiffrin as she took to the stage for the first World Cup slalom of the season. However, things did not go as she hoped, as Shiffrin missed out on the podium finish. The 28-year-old finished fourth, a week after she suffered a training crash.

The American alpine skier trailed the eventual winner, Petra Vlhova, by 0.42 seconds. She did make a strong comeback in the second attempt and finished 1.70 seconds behind her rival.

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Mikaela Shiffrin

There had been concerns about whether the defending champion would be able to compete in the event in the first place. The multi-time gold medalist provided an update regarding her knee injury through her social media account.

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It’s not perfect, but it’s not holding me back from skiing strong. Last week, we did a really good job to push into a kind of training in the gym, trying different things, different loading.
Mikaela Shiffrin

Another reason the spotlight was on her was because of the things she accomplished recently. The skier recently surpassed Ingemar Stemark and Lindsey Vonn for the number of World Cup wins. Her 88th World Cup win saw her receive praise from Annemarie Moser-Proell. It will now be interesting to see how she bounces back from this setback on Sunday.

Petra Vlhova dominates first World Cup slalom as Mikaela Shiffrin suffers defeat

The names of Petra Vlhova and Mikaela Shiffrin have dominated the skiing world in recent times. The two athletes have stunned the world with their amazing skills and techniques. Both were once again on the center stage as the first World Cup slalom commenced. It was Vlhova who stole the spotlight with her dominating win as Shiffrin had to satisfy herself with the fourth spot.

Petra Vlhova and Mikaela Shiffrin
Petra Vlhova (L) and Mikaela Shiffrin (R) [Pic Credit: AP]

The dominance these two skiers have in the Finland event can be measured through one interesting statistic. No other skier other than these two has won the traditional season opener at Levi since 2014.

While Shiffrin missed the podium following her slow start, Vlhova made her intentions clear from the get-go. This victory in Finland made her the sixth skier in World Cup history to win 20 career World Cup slaloms.

Germany’s Lena Duerr and Austria’s Katharina Liensberger finished second and third respectively. The time difference between them and Vlhova signaled a strong display from the Slovakian skier. She will now be eyeing another slalom as the athletes return to the same field on Sunday for another exciting and enthralling skiing race.

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