COURCHEVEL, France (Dec. 20, 2017) – One day after winning the giant slalom in Courchevel, France, Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.) took her second FIS Ski World Cup victory in two days—this time in the parallel slalom.

Under the lights in a head-to-head format, Shiffrin picked off skier after skier—starting with France’s Coralie Frasse Somet in the 1/16 round, moving on to Austria’s Carmen Thalmann in the round of 16 and beating Austria’s Ricarda Haaser in the quarterfinals. She then raced Irene Curtoni of Italy in the semis before facing off against Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova, who beat Shiffrin in the season-opening slalom in Levi, Finland.

The two 22-year-olds were neck-and-neck, but Shiffrin was able to squeak through the lights just before Vlhova—winning by .04 seconds. This was Shiffrin’s 35th World Cup win and her third win in a row. Curtoni was third. 

"It’s not like a traditional event—it’s short; it’s a sprint," said Shiffrin after her win. "You have to go so hard every single gate. I felt like when I started off, some turns were not as aggressive as I wanted. But every run I felt more comfortable.

"I had to go to a dark place in the start," continued Shiffrin, laughing. "I was like, 'OK you can do this. You've gotta be strong.' It was good. It worked out well."

Resi Stiegler (Jackson, Wyo.) was the only other American to make it through the morning’s qualifying race, but didn’t advance after the first round.   

The tech women now go on break and will be back in action after the holidays in Lienz, Austria for a giant slalom and slalom, Dec. 28-29. The men have one more race before Christmas: a night slalom in Madonna di Campiglio on Dec. 22.

RESULTS
Women's parallel slalom

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
*schedules subject to change

Dec. 22
11:45 a.m. – men’s slalom run, run 1; Madonna di Campiglio – olympicchannel.com
1:30 p.m. – men’s slalom, run 2; Madonna di Campiglio – Olympic Channel TV