American Mikaela Shiffrin laid down a marker for the upcoming Olympic season by demolishing her rivals and easily winning the first Alpine Ski World Cup slalom race on Saturday.
The 30-year-old was in a class of her own, running fastest in both heats to win by 1.66 seconds for her ninth career win at Levy and a record 102nd World Cup win.
Albanian Lara Kolturi was second on her 19th birthday, while her colleague Emma Eicher of Germany finished third for the first slalom World Cup podium of her career.
Shiffrin's victory looked assured from the moment she produced what she described as a “near-perfect” first run that gave her a lead of more than one second.
She was flawless again in her second run through the gate to add a ninth reindeer to her herd, the traditional prize for winners of slalom events at the Arctic Circle resort.
The new addition, a male reindeer, will join Rudolph, Sven, Mr. Grew, Ingemar, Sunny, the Lorax, Grog and Rory on a farm near Levi, in the Finnish region of Lapland and within the wider cultural region of Sápmi. Shiffrin visited my adopted deer last year.
“I trusted the training and doing a great job over the summer,” said Shiffrin, who will be vying for a third Olympic gold medal at the Milan-Cortina games in February.
“It was really nice to race today. It's important to start this season with a really good attitude. I'm just really happy. I'm starting to feel at home here.”
With Shiffrin sidelined for much of last season due to an abdominal injury sustained in a serious crash at Killington, Croatia's Zrinka Ljutic won the World Cup slalom title from Switzerland's Camilla Rast.
But any suggestion that the torch is being passed to a younger generation was ruthlessly dismissed by Shiffrin on Saturday as she showed she was still at her peak.
Italian-born Albanian Colturi looks to be one of those capable of challenging Shiffrin after two impressive results, even if she has to wait a little longer for her first World Cup win.
All-rounder Eicher was also impressive, finishing on the podium, while American Paula Molzahn made 15 places in the second run to finish joint fourth with Germany's Lena Duerr.
It was an impressive start to the season for Molzahn, who finished second in the season-opening giant slalom in Sölden. Lutich had to settle for sixth place, while world slalom champion Rast finished in a disappointing 15th place.
