Semmering, Austria – Colorado teen Mikaela Shiffrin, fourth after the opening run, was charging for back-to-back Audi FIS Alpine World Cup slalom wins on Sunday when she got stuck leaning back, hooked an edge, hiked and eventually straddled in the night final in Semmering.

“It was unexpected that she [Shiffrin] would be in the backseat when exiting a flush. She usually doesn’t do it,” said Roland Pfeifer, U.S. Ski Team Technical Head Coach. “It happens. She has a little cold, so now she needs to calm down a little bit and get healthy again.”

The door was then wide open for veteran Veronika Velez Zuzulova of Slovakia to snag the first victory of her 12-year World Cup career after finishing second a full six times already, and the first for her country. Austrian Kathrin Zettel produced a blazing final run to finish second ahead of overall and now slalom leader Tina Maze of Slovenia. Shiffrin dropped to fourth in the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup slalom standings, a mere 34 points behind Maze.

“I’ve been waiting for so long. Once I even lost for only 0.01 seconds and after that I started thinking it would never happen. Today a dream came true”, said Velez Zuzulova. “I know what I can do in training, that I can ski really fast. I’m really happy I could show it on the slope today.”

Resi Stiegler, of Jackson Hole, Wyo., finished in the points for the second straight race with 26^th.

“I am actually pretty happy with Resi, she is progressing in a big way,” added Pfeifer. “The first run today was just awesome. Second run, she had a little problem with being in the backseat; so a couple of days of training and she’s going to be more solid and consistent.”

The Canadians placed four women into the points as well. Led by a career-best 16^th-place finish from Brittany Phelan, and 18^th-, 20^th- and 23^rd-place results for Erin Mielzynski, Marie-Michèle Gagnon and Elli Terwiel, Canada showed it has developed strength in depth after a breakthrough 2011-12 season.

“We are pretty positive about our future here, starting with the next couple of races,” said Jim Pollock, head technical coach for the Canadian women’s alpine team.  “We are really happy with having four in the top 30 – we’re pretty impressed with Britt and Elli. Erin and ‘Mitch’ (Gagnon) didn’t do quite as well as they could but our expectations are high and theirs are high, so we are just going to keep working away.”

The World Cup tour resumes New Years Day with a men’s and women’s parallel slalom city event in Munich, Germany. Slalom and overall points will be awarded.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup
Semmering, Austria – Dec. 30, 2012
Women’s Slalom