Vlhova clebrates slalom double in Levi

"It's in!" Petra Vlhova of Slovakia let out a scream as she crossed the finish line in the second slalom race of the women's World Cup series in the Finnish resort of Levi on Sunday, repeating her dominant victory on Saturday, reported Xinhua.

Unlike Saturday, when the track was laid out by Vlhova's coach Livio Magoni and played to her strengths, Sunday's version was designed by the team of Vlhova's great rival, the U.S. star Mikaela Shiffrin.

Shiffrin's coach Mike Day put a greater distance between the individual gates, knowing that this is something the 25-year-old Slovak Vlhova does not prefer.

But that didn't prevent her from sweeping down the track in style and grabbing her second triumph of the new season.

The first run of the race turned out to be extremely even, with Vlhova and Switzerland's Michelle Gisin setting an identical time to one-hundredth of a second.

In the second and final run, Vlhova swooped down the slope with confidence, and set the bar very high, knowing that Gisin would not be able to catch up this time.

The 26-year old Swiss surprise of the season indeed did not and came in second, 0.35 seconds behind.

"It was really hard. I felt the pressure and wanted to validate my victory yesterday. I'm happy that I was able to give it my all. It's amazing to win twice here in Levi," said a beaming Vlhova after crossing the finish line for her 16th career triumph in the World Cup and fifth Slalom victory in a row.

Her ambition to earn not only the Small Globe in Slalom but also the overall World Cup title received a significant boost, as Vlhova now leads the rankings with 270 points.

Austria's Katharina Liensberger repeated her Saturday result and finished third. Shiffrin, Vlhova's greatest recent rival who came second on Saturday, was kept off the podium this time in fourth place.