The second Slalom of the Alpine Ski World Cup in 2025 will take place next Tuesday at the Hermann Maier racecourse in Flachau. This is the sixth race of the Women’s Slalom season.
Flachau (AUT)
January 14th Slalom / Women (Night Event) 17:45 CET 1st run 20:45 CET 2nd run
The absences of Mikaela Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova will once again mark the race at the Austrian ski resort.
Shiffrin was crowned "Princess of Snow Space Salzburg" five times: 2013, 2014, 2018, 2021, and 2024. Shiffrin finished on the podium ten times at the Night Slalom in Flachau.
Vlhova was crowned "Princess of Snow Space Salzburg" three times: 2019, 2020, and 2023.
Only Sara Hector (third in 2024), Lena Dürr (third in 2023), Wendy Holdener (third in 2017 and 2021), Katharina Liensberger (second in 2021, and third in 2019), and Anna Swenn-Larsson (second in 2020) among the skiers present in Flachau have managed to get on the podium in the Slovenian ski resort.
Zrinka Ljutic won the last Alpine Ski World Cup race of 2024, the Slalom in Semmering, and the first one of 2025 in Kranjska Gora in dominant fashion after setting the fastest time in both runs. The last Croatian to win a World Cup race was Janica Kostelic in Are in 2006.
Lena Duerr finished second, 1.75 seconds behind the Croatian in Semmering. Katharina Liensberger completed the podium in third place, 1.85 seconds back. Ljutic became the youngest woman to win a World Cup slalom since Shiffrin, then 20, won in Jasná in March 2016.
In Kranjska Gora, the 20-year-old beat by 0.16 seconds a superb Wendy Holdener after being tied with the best time in the first run. Anna Swenn-Larsson rounded up the podium in third place 1.19 seconds off the pace.
She finished sixth in the first Slalom in Levi. In Gurgl, she struggled on the icy slope in the first run and finished 24th, but posted the fastest time in the second run to move up to 9th. In Killington, she finished sixth.
No female Slalom skier other than Mikaela Shiffrin or Petra Vlhova has won three consecutive Slalom events since Austrian Marlies Schild won five-in-a-row in 2011-2012.
The rising Croatian star leads the Slalom standings with 309 points.
Camille Rast is second in the Slalom standings with 305 points after 5 of 10 scheduled races. With a fifth-place finish at the Slalom opener in Levi, a third place in Gurgl, her maiden win in Slalom in Killington, and two fourth places in Semmering and Kranjska Gora, the 25-year-old Rast has confirmed her status as one of the women to watch this season.
Wendy Holdener is third in the Slalom standings with 265 points. She made her Slalom comeback in Levi. She finished 16th. In Gurgl, the 31-year-old Swiss finished fourth, just 0.18 seconds off the podium. She claimed her first podium of the season in Killington, sharing second place with Anna Swenn Larsson. In Semmering, she finished sixth. In the last Slalom held in Kranjska Gora Holdener returned to the World Cup podium finishing second behind Ljutic. It was her 37th podium in Slalom and the 18th time she has finished second in a World Cup Slalom. No Woman finished runner-up as many times in the World Cup Slalom events as Holdener.
She is sixth on the all-time World Cup Slalom podiums behind Mikaela Shiffrin (86), Marlies Schild (56), Vreni Schneider (47), Petra Vlhova (46), and Erika Hess (42).
Lena Dürr is currently fourth in the Slalom standings with 235 points.
With a third place in the first slalom of the winter, on her favorite slope, Lena Dürr had a perfect start to the season. In Gurgl she finished fifth. In Killington she was fourth. In Semmering, the most consistent slalom skier in recent years after Mikaela Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova was only beaten by Ljutic. It was her 14th World Cup slalom podium.
Dürr finished second in the 2024 Slalom standings. Last season she enjoyed the best season of his career, with four podiums in her first six races (second and third in Levi, second in Lienz, and second again in Kranjska Gora).
In Kranjska Gora, she did not finish the first run.
In Flachau, she will be aiming for her second Slalom World Cup victory after her win in Špindleruv Mlýn on 29 January 2023. Dürr could become the oldest skier to win a World Cup Slalom. Currently, the record is held by Anna Swenn Larsson, who won in Soldeu at the age of 32 years, 7 months, and 23 days. Only two other women have won a World Cup slalom event after their 32nd birthday: Marlies Schild (two victories at age 32) and Veronika Velez-Zuzulová (one victory at age 32).
Katharina Liensberger is fifth in the Slalom standings with 234 points. Liensberger finished in second place in the Slalom opener in Levi. In Gurgl, she posted the third-best time in the first run but made a few mistakes in the second run and dropped to seventh place. In Killington, she finished in ninth place. Liensberger made it onto the Slalom podium in Semmering for the second time this season. In Kranjska Gora, she ended in 9th place.
The 27-year-old Austrian skier has won three World Cup Slalom races and finished on the podium 16 times. The four Austrian women to have claimed more than three World Cup Slalom victories are Marlies Schild (35), Roswitha Steiner (8), Gertrud Gabl (5), and Nicole Hosp (5). In the absence of Petra Vlhova, Katharina Liensberger is the only woman other than Shiffrin to have won more than two World Cup slalom races in her career.
Katharina Liensberger won the Slalom Crystal Globe in 2021.
Liensberger took silver in the Slalom behind gold medallist Petra Vlhova at the Beijing Olympic Winter Games.
In Cortina 2020, Liensberger posted the fastest times in both slalom runs, finishing well ahead of Petra Vhlova and Mikaela Shiffrin to take the gold medal. She was the first Austrian woman to reach the world championship podium in the Slalom since Michaela Kirchgasser (silver) in 2013. The last Austrian to win the Women's slalom world title was Marlies Schild in 2011.
Salzburg's Marlies Schild (Raich) is the only Austrian skier to have won in Flachau. She won in 2010 and 2011.
Katharina Liensberger was the last Austrian woman skier to achieve a podium finish in a World Cup Slalom in Flachau. She finished second behind Mikaela Shiffrin in January 2021.
Anna Swenn Larsson is currently in sixth place in the Slalom standings with 206 points. She has won two Slalom races in the World Cup. Swenn-Larsson shared first place with Wendy Holdener at Killington on 27 November 2022. In Soldeu in February, she claimed her second World Cup victory. The Swede has 14 Slalom World Cup podiums to her name.
Swenn-Larsson was the silver medallist behind Mikaela Shiffrin in the Slalom at the 2019 World Championships in Åre.
Melanie Meillard finished in the Top 10 in all the Slalom events this season: 7th in Levi, 10th in Gurgl, 5th in Killington, 7th in Semmering, and 5th in Karnjska Gora. The 26-year-old Swiss skier is ranked eighth in the Slalom standings with 188 points.
Seven Swiss women skiers finished on the Top 30 in Kranjska Gora: Wendy Holdener (2nd), Camille Rast (4th), Mélanie Meillard (5th), Eliane Christen (15th), Elena Stoffel (18th), Janine Mächler (21st), and Michelle Gisin (28th).
No Swiss skier has ever won in Flachau.
Last season Sara Hector claimed in Flachau her first podium in Slalom in the Alpine Ski World Cup. She finished three times in the Top 10 this season: 8th in Gurgl, 5th in Semmering, and 6th in Kranjska Gora. The 32-year-old Swedish skier celebrated in the Giant Slalom in Kranjska Gora her 7th Alpine Ski World Cup victory.
Hector is in 9th place in the World Cup Slalom standings with 151 points.
Lara Colturi finished second in Gurgl, just 0.55 seconds behind Shiffrin. The 18-year-old Albanian skier, who worked her way up from 4th to 2nd place, secured her first podium finish in the World Cup. Before Gurgl, the best World Cup result for Lara Colturi, daughter of Olympic champion Daniela Ceccarelli, was ninth place in the Night Slalom in Flachau last season. She is the first skier from Albania to climb onto the World Cup podium.
Colturi is currently in 10th place in the World Cup Slalom standings with 150 points.
Mikaela Shiffrin is currently in 7h place in the Slalom standings with 200 points. In Gurgl, in her last Slalom before her injury, Shiffrin confirmed her status as the undisputed slalom favorite with a dominant victory and her 99th World Cup victory. Of her impressive 99 wins, 62 have come in Slalom.
Mikaela Shiffrin has won 8 Slalom Crystal Globes (2012-2013, 2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2016-2017, 2017-2018, 2018-2019, 2022-2023, and 2023-2024), tying her with Lindsey Vonn (Downhill) and Ingemar Stenmark (Slalom and Giant Slalom), who also hold eight discipline globes.
Four days ago Mikaela Shiffrin showed on Instagram she is back on skis. The US skier was able to do some light snow training again.
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