At the 2021 FIS World Cup Finals slalom in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, Mikaela Shiffrin finished second—her 105th FIS World Cup podium—to secure second place in the overall slalom standings. Paula Moltzan also had an excellent day, skiing into seventh place in the race to take 11th overall in the standings.

The conditions were sloppy, with the heavy snow that canceled the speed events earlier in the week making the Swiss track difficult. With two nearly perfect runs, 2021 Slalom World Champion Katharina Liensberger of Austria took the win by more than a second over Shiffrin with Michelle Gisin of Switzerland in third.

Shiffrin’s result pushed her from third to second in the slalom standings, but Liensberger’s win secured her the women’s slalom title, vaulting her over Slovakian Petra Vlhova who won the title in the 2019-20 season. But Vlhova didn’t go home empty-handed, as her sixth-place finish in the race clinched her the overall crystal globe for the season, making her the first Slovakian to ever win the overall title.

Shiffrin was content with the race and season outcome, given the conditions and a difficult last year for her personally. “I think being able to get to this point and have any races at World Cup Finals, especially with really difficult weather this week is really lucky,” she said. “There’s a lot of things that went totally different this season and I had a lot of uncertainty personally. It’s been quite successful, even if it’s comparatively not as successful as other seasons. It’s a really good stepping stone for me. I’m trying to just take just the moments that are positive and move forward with that.”

Shiffrin was also quick to commend the 23-year-old Liensberger, who had an extraordinary season to land the designation of the world’s best slalom skier. “Her skiing is not only strong but also fearless,” said Shiffrin. “It’s quite impressive to see that. I knew it would have to be a really really perfect race for me to have a chance to overtake her in the globe fight, so it was just trying to find a good rhythm for myself today and there were definitely some good turns in there. She absolutely has just been consistent this season and building higher and higher and putting really impressive skiing out there.”

Moltzan completed her breakout year with yet another strong performance, finishing in seventh. It was the former NCAA champion’s second-best individual World Cup result, and also proved that she is one of the top skiers on the World Cup circuit—landing in 11th in the slalom standings.

"I'm extremely excited about how my season had ended," said Moltzan. "I had four really solid slalom results in a row, which is something I've been striving towards my whole career. To see it finally come to fruition is really awesome and exciting and really motivating. I can't wait for the next year already!"  

Alexis Pintaurant of France won the men's giant slalom, earning him the giant slalom globe and clinching the overall title on his 30th birthday. Croatian Filip Zubcic was second and Frenchman Matthieu Faivre third. Tommy Ford, who suffered from an injury after a horrific crash in Adelboden, Switzerland, qualified for World Cup Finals, ranked 10th in the world in giant slalom. River Radamus, who ended up ranked 28th in the world, just missed qualification for World Cup Finals (top 25 athletes in each discipline). 

There’s just one last race day in the World Cup season: a giant slalom on Sunday for the women and a slalom for the men. Shiffrin and Nina O’Brien will represent the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team.

RESULTS
Women’s World Cup Finals slalom

SLALOM STANDINGS
Women

GS STANDINGS
Men

OVERALL STANDINGS
Women
Men

HOW TO WATCH
*All times EDT.

Sunday, March 21
1:30 a.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Finals Women’s Slalom - next-day broadcast, Lenzerheide, SUI, Broadcast NBCSN
4:00 a.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Finals Women’s Giant Slalom, Run 1 - LIVE, Lenzerheide, SUI, Streaming Peacock
5:30 a.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Finals Men’s Slalom, Run 1 - LIVE, Lenzerheide, SUI, Streaming Peacock
7:00 a.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Finals Women’s Giant Slalom, Run 2 - LIVE, Lenzerheide, SUI, Broadcast Olympic Channel & Streaming Peacock
8:30 a.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Finals Men’s Slalom, Run 2 - LIVE, Lenzerheide, SUI, Broadcast Olympic Channel & Streaming Peacock
1:30 p.m. FIS World Cup Finals Women’s Slalom, next-day broadcast, Lenzerheide, SUI, Broadcast NBC

Monday, March 22
12:00 a.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Finals Women’s Giant Slalom, next-day broadcast, Lenzerheide, SUI, Broadcast NBCSN
1:00 a.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Finals Men’s Slalom, next-day broadcast, Lenzerheide, SUI, Broadcast NBCSN