It was a thrilling end to the women's World Cup slalom.

Petra Vlhova led after the first run this cloudy day at home in Jasna, Slovakia.

But the Swiss Wendy Holdener stood for an unexpectedly fast ride and took the lead when only Vlhova and Mikaela Shiffrin remained in the second ride.

However, she was immediately downplayed by the always equally stable Mikaela Shiffrin who took over the lead after a really sharp finish.

It then became a real nail-biter when Vlhova went out on the hill, she was well after half the race but Shiffrin's strong finish was decisive and Vlhova drove in 34 hundredths after the American.

"Really good fight"

Shiffrin thus took his 45th victory in the slalom world cup.

This means that she is now just a victory away from Ingemar Stenmark's record for the number of victories in a discipline.

Stenmark has 46 victories in giant slalom.

- It was a really good fight.

It feels really good, says Mikaela Shiffrin after the competition.

Vlhova, however, retains the lead in the slalom cup at 480 points, but Shiffrin challenges and is now only 45 points behind with three races left.

Best Swedish today was Sara Hector.

She was 14th after the first run and delivered a stable ride but lost speed throughout the ride and eventually became eleventh.

She gets a chance for revenge on Sunday when it's time for giant slalom, which is her main branch.

The Swede branched out

Emelie Wikström finished in 15th place, four places better than her 19th place in the first run.

Charlotta Säfvenberg was the one with the highest starting number (46) who advanced to the second run.

She had good pressure in the ride from the beginning and looked like she was on her way to a real cannon ride, but in the middle of the hill the Swede unfortunately branched out.

- This is a nice message for her anyway, despite that branching.

She shows herself that she can get back in the World Cup, says SVT Sports expert Tobias Hellman.