Paris (AFP)

The two best slalomers in the world, the Slovakian Petra Vlhova and the American Mikaela Shiffrin, meet on Tuesday for a night race in Flachau (Austria).

Their previous game was spectacular: Vlhova broke Shiffrin's six-game winning streak in the discipline in Zagreb (Croatia) on January 4. Above all, the two champions had created monstrous gaps, compared to a competition which does not seem to have any chance of winning Tuesday on a competition disputed in "prime time" (second round at 8:45 pm).

For proof, the Austrian in form of the moment Katharina Liensberger had completed the podium at 3 seconds and 49 hundredths! And only ten skiers had managed to lose less than five seconds on the winner ...

Flachau is the resort located in the very center of Austria where Vlhova had succeeded in 2019 for the last time to take over Shiffrin in slalom. And Katharina Liensberger had already finished 3rd ...

Another mark of their domination, Shiffrin and Vlhova, both aged 24, have confiscated the last 24 World Cup slaloms since the victory of the Swedish Frida Hansdotter in ... Flachau three years ago.

In the standings, however, there is no match: the triple defender of the big globe Mikaela Shiffrin leads the Italian Federica Brignone by 261 points and Petra Vlhova, who pays a missed start to the season, by 313 points.

In the slalom classification Vlhova is 120 points from Shiffrin and still has a meager hope of winning a first crystal globe if the American makes a big mistake, while there are five races left (the victory is worth 100 points).

On the French side only Joséphine Forni is aligned in Austria, while no tricolor skier has yet managed to qualify in the second round of a World Cup slalom this season.

Flachau World Cup slalom program:

Tuesday January 14: 1st round at 6:00 p.m., 2nd round at 8:45 p.m.

© 2020 AFP