Germany's Aicher powers to first World Cup slalom victory in Levi

LEVI, Finland, Nov 14 - Germany's Emma Aicher claimed the first women's World Cup slalom of the season on Saturday, turning her opening-run lead into a dominant victory to secure the first slalom win of her career.

Aicher, who turned 23 on Friday, had a 0.36-second advantage after the first run and looked comfortable in extending her advantage in the second run on the Levi Black course to finish with a combined time of one minute 52.62 seconds.

She finished 0.43 seconds ahead of Albania's Lara Colturi, while Austria's Katharina Truppe climbed from fifth after the first run to complete the podium, 0.50 behind the winner.

The victory adds slalom to Aicher's growing World Cup resume after previous wins in downhill and super-G.

"It's a good birthday present," Aicher said.

"I like Levi, it was my first (slalom) podium (last year), first win in slalom (this year), so it means a lot to be here. My whole family is here as well, so it's really nice to be able to ski the way I want when they are here.

"I'm happy with how I skied in both rounds. There's still a few things I could do better but, overall, I'm happy."

Colturi, 19, made the ninth World Cup podium of her career but is still searching for her first World Cup win. Croatia's Zrinka Ljutic, third after the opening run, slipped to fourth.

Another major storyline was the return to the discipline of Slovakia's 31-year-old Petra Vlhova, who finished 16th in her first World Cup slalom since January 2024.

The six-times Levi winner qualified for the second run in 14th place and showed flashes of her former speed.

Vlhova, who came back to the World Cup circuit in the giant slalom at Solden last month, was seriously injured in January 2024 when she fell in that event on home snow in Jasna and tore knee ligaments. She underwent two surgical operations.

The season-opening slalom was contested without reigning discipline champion Mikaela Shiffrin, who won nine of the 10 World Cup slaloms last winter. The American plans to begin her slalom campaign at Killington on November 29.

Winners of the Levi races receive a live Lapland reindeer as part of their prize, a tradition started in 2013. REUTERS