She may be one of the youngest in the race but Mikaela Shiffrin is showing the rest of the field how to race the opening Slalom of the World Cup season. Shiffrin has just over a half second lead over Tina Maze with two Germans tieing for third place just under seven tenths back: ... Last year's winner Maria Hoefl-Riesch and Marina Wallner - who started all the way back at number 63!
The form that Shiffrin is in is incredible. The 18 year old slid on her hip about a third of the way down the course and still has a lead of 0.52 over the rest of the field. Any young racers watching the race could learn from her never give up attitude. If you give up, you do not win!
The first run has seen a lot of the more fancied racers either not make it down: Austria's Michaela Kirchgasser and Marlies Schild as well as Swiss star Wendy Holdener from the top 15 starters. Ex World Champion Sarka Strachova (nee Zahrobska) dropped down to 54 and out of the second run; Lena Duerr and Carmen Thalmann are also out. perhaps the unluckiest racer though is Anne-Sophie Barthet who failed to make the second run by a mere one hundredth of a second.
Manuela Moelgg, sister of Manfred Moelgg will get the second run off. Moelgg put in a fantastic performance to make the second run from number 67. Martina Dubovska from the Czech Republic was another to also make a mockery of her late start number to crash into the top 30; she will go fourth on the second run. Going tenth on the second run will be Taina Barioz from France, who started 71. Barioz put in a performance that will have raised her standing in the slalom World Cup immensely.
With the wind playing havoc with the times, hit the wind correctly and you got a turbo boost into the finish, be unlucky and you had no chance.
Sadly Alex Tilley failed to finish the first run. 2.60 down at the split, Tilley was skiing well when she straddled a gate nearing the lower flat section. Click here to watch her run.
The second run starts at 12.00 UK time and the winner of the race gets a Reindeer, plus cash and 100 World Cup Points. It is all go!