Veronika Velez-Zuzulová scored a second victory in Flachau, just three days after the first. It was Velez-Zuzulová’s fourth Alpine Skiing World Cup win. However, Velez-Zuzulová wasn’t the only Slovak standing on podium on the snowy Friday night in Austria. Petra Vlhová, young up-and-comer who made a huge breakthrough this season, stood proudly in third place. It is the first time in history of alpine skiing that two Slovak skiers managed to climb on the podium together. The only person separating them was Frida Hansdotter, the current World Cup Slalom standings leader, who skied into second place, just 0.20 seconds behind the winner.

Run 1

First run of the second slalom in Flachau started pretty similarly to the slalom on Tuesday. Familiar faces occupied the first positions after the first 14 skiers. Despite conditions being significantly better than just three days ago, no one really expected anything to change at the top. Nastasia Noens, however, had another idea. With flawless skiing that already brought her two World Cup podiums in the past, she skied into the lead, 0.17 seconds in front of her friend and “training buddy” Velez-Zuzulová. Despite good conditions for the later bibs, not many skiers managed to use that opportunity. However, two young skiers, Elizabeth Willibald from Germany and Katharina Gallhuber from Austria (born in 1996 and 1997 respectively), managed to use their high-numbered bibs to their advantage and finished inside the top 30 to qualify for the second run. The only two casualties of the night among the contenders for the race were Sweden’s Anna Swenn-Larsson and Emelie Wikstroem, who couldn’t get past the finish of the nearly one-minute long first run.

Run 2

Nerves started to raise again as the racers prepared to start the second run of the night. Small differences between the racers could either result in a nice leap up the rankings or a huge fall down to lower places. Willibald started from the 23rd position and went on the track without any visible fear. The youngster finished her second run with a green light, which meant she just achieved her first World Cup points. The run, as she later found out, took her to an impressive 15th position. But she was not in the lead for much longer.

Julia Grünwald, who suffered a bad fall in Tuesday’s slalom, showed that the fall didn’t affect her at all. With a mistake-free run, she finished with a huge lead in the finish area, in front of the many Austrian fans that came there to support the skiers. Grünwald’s run was enough to finish in 10th position in the final results, making it her first top-10 result. It wasn’t until Nina Løseth, ninth in the first run, that Grünwald’s time was beaten. Starting with 1.13 seconds of advantage, Loeseth managed to keep 0.36 seconds of her advantage when crossing the finish line.

Wendy Holdener soon beat Løseth’s time but it wasn’t enough for either of them to achieve a Top 5 position in the final results. Fifth after the first run, Petra Vlhová displayed her amazing slalom talent again, going to the lead after crossing the finish line. The run was good enough to keep the lead for a little while but it was Frida Hansdotter, third in the first run, who claimed the lead from Vlhová. Hansdotter’s run not only meant that she’ll stand on the podium, but also that she equaled Tanja Poutianen’s record (achieved in 2007-2009) of scoring 24 consecutive top-10 slalom World Cup results. However, Frida’s achievement wasn’t sweetened with a victory.

Velez-Zuzulova managed to score another great run in Flachau, leaving Frida to the familiar second place again. With Slovaks in first and third position, it was only Nastasia Noens run to either spoil the party or let the Slovaks have this historic achievement. Noens’s nerves got the best of her and sadly for her, she failed to make the podium but went into fourth place. Despite the disappointment in her eyes, Noens will probably be happy to hear she’ll start in the top-7 group in the next race for the first time in her career. Noens’s result also meant that for the first time this season, first-run leader did not win the race as well.

Velez-Zuzulová’s win meant she gained another 20 points against Hansdotter, but is still 85 points behind the leader. Šárka Strachová’s fifth place finish knocked her off the second position, but is still safely in third place, although 109 behind the Swede.

Slalom World Cup standings:

1. Frida Hansdotter (SWE) – 505 points
2. Veronika Velez-Zuzulová (SVK) – 420 points
3. Šárka Strachová (CZE) – 396 points
4. Petra Vlhová (SVK) – 320 points
5. Wendy Holdener (SUI) – 302 points