Flachau, Austria – Second after the opening run, Veronika Velez Zuzulova of Slovakia gave it her all in the second run on Friday night and cruised to a second consecutive World Cup slalom victory this week. She was the fastest of the second run to finish in an aggregate time of 1:49.99 ahead of Sweden’s Frida Hasdotter (+0.20) and her teammate Petra Vlhova (+0.53).

Before this week, Velez Zuzulova last topped the podium in January 2013. The 31-year-old admitted that she was happy she didn’t have to wait another three years.

“It’s a dream week,” Zuzulova said with a big smile. “For the first victory on Tuesday, I had to wait a long time. For the second one, only two days. But now I am happy that there is a short break because this is the kind of stuff I am not living every day. It cost me a lot of energy. A lot of emotions. So, it will be nice that I can go home a little bit and take in new energy for the next race.”

With Petra Vlova’s victory in December at Åre, Slovakia has now recorded a total of three wins this season. On Friday night the two Slovakian teammates shared the podium together.

“We are making history from the beginning of the season, it’s not just today, so for sure it’s amazing,” Zuzulova commented. “You can see that there are many Slovakians here. We will have the World Cup in Slovakia and the people from Slovakian TV just told us we are beating even ice hockey. The people are watching in Slovakia. It’s really something amazing because the ice hockey is the sport number one in Slovakia, and now its maybe skiing.”

With her sixth podium finish out of seven slalom races thus far this season, Hansdotter extended her lead in the slalom standings and now sits atop the table with 505 points, 85 points ahead of Velez Zuzulova.

“Night events are so much fun,” said Hansdotter. “It’s such a nice atmosphere and it’s so fun to race when you see all the people down here cheering for you, so I love this race and delighted to be on the podium again today.”

Canada’s Erin Mielzynski and Marie-Michele Gagnon crossed the finish line on Friday night in 12^th and 13^th, respectively.  Jackson, Wyo.’s Resi Stiegler was the only American to make the flip, finishing 28^th.  Minnesota’s Paula Moltzan and Nevada’s Lila Lapanja failed to qualify for a second run.

U.S. Ski Team coach Karin Harjo had the distinction of setting the first run course, becoming the first woman in World Cup history to set a slalom course.

“As far as the history thing, it hasn’t really hit me yet,” Harjo said. “Probably because a lot of the time I just think of going out and doing my job, and just being another coach on the hill. That’s always been my mentality, being known as a good coach … versus being the chick that set the course. I understand it’s a huge milestone, but more than anything, I believe in working hard, believing in your dreams, and doing the best job you can.

“(Paula and Lila) know exactly the mistakes they made,” Harjo said of the two young U.S. athletes who scored their first World Cup points under the lights in Tuesday’s slalom. “They know that they can compete at this level and they are confident moving forward, but they know that mistakes at this level are that much greater.

“For Resi … she knows exactly where she nailed it and exactly where she made mistakes,” Harjo continued. “And today, she made big mistakes on both runs, which is the first time all season she has done that … but in between, there were sections that she skied really, really well. She has an urgency to complete a full run clean, and she has splits that are right in there with the top girls.”

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Alpine Ski World Cup
Flachau, Austria – Jan. 15, 2016
Women’s Slalom