Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova and French skier Alexis Pinturault both won their first World Cup overall titles, making this a historic skiing season.
Vlhova broke records by becoming Slovakia’s first ever Alpine Skiing World Cup champion after finishing sixth in the final women’s slalom of the season in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. However, her performance in the slalom race didn’t go quite the same. Vlhova was overtaken by Austria’s Katharina Liensberger who was the fastest in both runs. Behind Liensberger was Mikaela Shiffrin, who finished 1.24 seconds later.
Vlhova spoke to Slocak broadcaster RTVS about her disappointment in the slalom. “I can’t even wrap my head around it at the moment, as I’m still a bit disappointed after the slalom.” But that didn’t stop her excitement about winning the Crystal Globe for her stunning performance in Alpine skiing. “It was our goal from the beginning of the season, we went for it and I’m really happy. I will probably only fully grasp it tomorrow, when I hold the globe in my hand. It means a lot because I made history. I cannot believe it.”
On the other hand, French skier Alexis Pinturault also had an epic win just in time for his 30th birthday. He secured his first ever overall World Cup title, winning the giant slalom this season. Pinturault came into the race weekend leading the Overall standings by 31 points, but he was behind Swiss skier Marco Odermatt in the Giant slalom by 25 points.
He started off the race impeccably, gaining 100 points that ensured he not only won the Giant slalom (GS) crown by 51 points from Odermatt, but it also secured him the Overall title ahead of the final race of the season.
“I’ve worked so hard for so many years and now it feels really great,” Pinturault said after the race. “Claiming a globe and also the big globe at the same time is something unbelievable.”
According to the International Ski Federation, women were the top three prize money earners in Alpine Skiing this World Cup season. Swiss skier Lara Gut-Behrami was the top prize earner, with 485,000 Swiss francs ($523,000 USD). She also won six races that generally pay about 45,000 Swiss francs ($48,600) each.
Coming in second is Petra Vlhova, who earned 444,000 Swiss francs ($479,000) while Mikaela Shiffrin who earned a total of almost 411,000 Swiss francs ($444,000).
With Alexis Pintaurault being the men’s Overall World Cup champion, he is the top male prize earner with 379,000 Swiss francs ($409,000).
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