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| - Slovakian skier Petra Vlhova made it a slalom double as Mikaela Shiffrin missed out on a podium in the discipline for the first time in nearly three years at Sunday's World Cup event in Levi, Finland. The 25-year-old Vlhova, who also won Saturday's slalom, shared top spot with Swiss skier Michelle Gisin after the first run but put in the second-fastest run on the second leg to post a combined time of 1min 49.5secs to claim her 16th World Cup victory. "Today was difficult with pressure from yesterday," said Vlhova. "But I confirmed my form, my power, I'm very happy. I pushed as hard as I could, it was tight." It was Vlhova's fifth consecutive win in the discipline. Since the World Cup event in Levi two years ago, the Slovakian, who won the slalom crystal globe last season, has competed in 17 slaloms, winning six and finishing on the podium a remarkable 15 times. Gisin did enough to claim second, finishing 0.31secs behind Vlhova, while Austrian Katharina Liensberger was quickest on the second run and collected her second third-place of the weekend. The three-time overall World Cup winner Shiffrin marked her return to competition after a 300-day absence following her father's untimely death in a domestic accident. In the Finnish fog she came second on Saturday, lay fourth after the first run Sunday but eventually slipped to fifth, finishing behind another Swiss Wendy Holdener. It was the first time she has missed the podium in a slalom race since Lenzerheide in January 2018. But the weekend north of the Arctic Circle still marks a successful comeback for the American after 10 months out of action. Shiffrin was all set for a fourth consecutive overall World Cup title when she ended last season when her father fell at home and died. Thoughts of a return last season were scotched by the coronavirus and a bad back then forced the 25-year-old to skip the season-opener in Soelden. Accompanied by her mother in Finland, Shiffrin said she was thankful to be back in competition and feel the joy of racing again. Vlhova leads the overall standings, 85 points ahead of Gisin. Shiffrin is a further 50 points back in third. Last season's overall champion, the Italian Federica Brignone, who is not a slalom specialist, came in 24th after failing to finish on Saturday. Anna Swenn-Larsson, ranked fifth in the world in the event, was among the Swedish skiers who were not permitted to compete by Finnish authorities after their coach tested positive for coronavirus. rg/bsp/dmc/jc
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