Åre (Sweden) (AFP) - Petra Vlhova missed a glorious chance to blow her World Cup overall title battle with Mikaela Shiffrin wide open on Saturday, as Austrian Katharina Liensberger won the slalom in Are.
It was the first time neither Shiffrin or Vlhova had finished on a World Cup slalom podium since January 12, 2016 in Flachau.
Slovakia's Vlhova, who trailed Shiffrin by 77 points in the overall standings heading into the day, was in second place after the first run.
The reigning overall champion then saw Shiffrin struggle -- the American star ended up finishing ninth -- but could only finish fourth herself.
That leaves Vlhova 56 points behind Shiffrin ahead of next week's season-ending finals in Meribel, where Shiffrin is likely to be competitive in more races than her rival.
Liensberger posted a combined winning time of one minute and 46.18 seconds to claim her third World Cup victory and first since March last year.
Norway's Mina Fuerst Holtmann finished second, 0.16secs behind, to clinch only her second career individual podium.
Olympic combined champion Michelle Gisin of Switzerland completed the podium, 0.07secs further back.
American star Shiffrin was bidding for a first victory since a disastrous Winter Olympics where she failed to win a single medal, but was in disappointing form.
The 26-year-old previously won three straight overall titles from 2017-2019 and is looking for her fourth big crystal globe.
Vlhova has already won this year's slalom trophy, her second title in the discipline.
