Sestriere (Italy) (AFP) - Petra Vlhova's bid for a first World Cup win of the season continues after Wendy Holdener and Mikaela Shiffrin nudged her into third place in Sunday's slalom in Sestriere.
The Olympic champion in the discipline topped the leader board after the first run but it was the Swiss skier Holdener who came through strongest in the second run to take the win, her second in the discipline this season.
Following her victory in Killington two weeks ago and second place in one of the Levi slaloms at the start of the season, Holdener posted a combined time of 1 minute 56.29 seconds to finish 0.47 seconds ahead of Shiffrin.
"I knew that Mikaela was in the lead, that I had to give everything," said Holdener."I was happy to finish so strong and to see such a gap.It's really great to win here in Sestriere."
Shiffrin -- four time world champion in the discipline and Olympic champion in 2014 -- moved up from third after the first run and now sits level with Holdener at the top of the discipline standings.
"I'm happy to be on the podium," said the American."Maybe not totally satisfied but Wendy skied so well, she really deserves it."
Shiffrin is 19 points clear of Holdener in the overall standings.
'Consistent'
Sitting third in both discipline and overall standings is Vlhova who must be wondering what she needs to do to taste victory this season.
Having led at halfway in Saturday's giant slalom only to finish third, the Slovakian repeated the trick again on Sunday.
She led Holdener by 0.24sec after the first run but ended 0.70sec behind the Swiss.
Vlhova has endured a frustrating campaign so far -- she has finished third on three occasions including the two slaloms in Levi which were both won by Shiffrin.
"I'm happy because I'm consistent and it's not at all easy to get on the podium," said a stoic Vlhova.
The most impressive run of the day came from Swedish teenager Hanna Aronsson Elfman.
After posting the 16th quickest time on the first run, the 19-year-old put in a blistering second run, posting the fastest time of the day of 56.69sec -- 0.85sec ahead of Holdener who was next quickest on her second run.
It took Aronsson Elfman to fourth overall, not quite good enough to get her on to the podium but that would appear to be just a matter of time.
Swedish skier Sara Hector, who is fourth in the overall standings, was the big loser of the day.
Second in the giant slalom on Saturday, she was eliminated in the first heat because of a technical fault at the top of the course which caused her to lose a lot of time.
Holdener will be on home snow for the next World Cup event when two downhills and a super-G will take place in Saint-Moritz from December 16 to 18.
The next slalom will take place in Semmering, Austria on December 29, hot on the heels of two giants.
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