The SÖLDEN, FIS WORLD CUP is underway and already has Alpine Skiing fans on the edge of their seats. Also known as the Audi FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup 2023/24, the thrilling spectacle kicked off on October 28, 2023, with the traditional opening giant slaloms in Sölden, Austria. The first round saw big names in the skiing world: Mikaela Shiffrin, Petra Vlhova, Federica Brignone, Sara Hector, and Lara Gut-Behrami in a neck-to-neck battle.

Mikaela Shiffrin, the USA favorite who has the most World Cup wins of any alpine skier in history, kicked off her 14th World Cup season. Shiffrin, chasing her 100 World Cup wins, would achieve her 89th World Cup victory if she won once again. However, at the recent spectacle, she met her match, Petra Vlhova, once more. Vlhova, her rival, once said, “She was winning all the time, and maybe when I came out, she saw somebody who could be faster than her, and so she had to do something more. So maybe I gave her the motivation to work harder”. And now, at the Audi FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup 2023, Vlhova did just that.

Petra Vlhova derails American legend Mikaela Shiffrin on her 100 win run

According to FIS Ski, Mikaela Shiffrin, in her 21st giant slalom World Cup and with a great record of 88 World Cups, found herself trailing behind the competition in the first run of the season-opening women’s World Cup giant slalom.

Shiffrin had the second-fastest time at the first split, but after losing several tenths of a second in the second sector, she came in 5th and had 0.75 to make up in the second leg. While her formidable rival Petra Vlhova of Slovakia finished ahead of Shiffrin in 3rd place with a difference of +0.63 from the lead taken by the Italian skier Federica Brignone.

How Italy led the first run and a glimpse into the age-old rivalry

Italy’s Federica Brignone dominated the first run of the season-opening of the women’s Audi FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup 2023/24 giant slalom. She finished off the first run with a time of 1:08.77 and was a half-second faster than Olympic champion Sara Hector in second place. Petra Vlhova and Mikaela Shiffrin’s rivalry was another thrilling spectacle that took fans back to when it began, back in 2012, when they first debuted.

The two have been competing against each other for more than a decade. Back in March, Petra said, “The rivalry between Mikaela and I started when we were young, and I still have pictures of us in the junior races”. As Shiffrin has become the most successful skier in World Cup history, fans enjoy the good old rivalry between the legends that only emerges when on the ice.

Read more: Shocking DNF by Prodigy in Giant Slalom Leaves Audi FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup Stumped

Otherwise, the two women have remained respectful sportsmen in awe of each other through the years. Fans hope that Shiffrin, who is on a journey to chase her 100 wins, adds another feather to her accolades.

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