KITTILÄ, Finland — Petra Vlhova has held on to her first-run lead to beat Mikaela Shiffrin and win the first World Cup slalom of the season.
The Slovakian overall champion initially lost a few hundredths from her slim lead of .11 but accelerated near the end of her final run to win by .31 as the pair continued their dominance in the annual event in Finnish Lapland.
No skier other than Vlhova or Shiffrin has won the traditional season-opening slalom since then-overall champion Tina Maze triumphed in 2014.
Shiffrin and Vlhova have now each win it four times. Lena Dürr of Germany finished third.
>>Video above: Mikaela Shiffrin dance challenge gets people moving while having fun
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