Vlhova Wins Again...

Petra Vlhova just seems unstoppable in this first part of the season! The Slovakian athlete won the Parallel in Lech Zürs (AUT), defeating, one by one, every athlete she was up against. Vlhova, after eliminating 2020 Overall World Cup winner Brignone in the quarter-final , just made it through to the finals, preceding Sara Hector (SWE) in the semi-final line by 0.01s.

In the big final, the Slovakian slalom ace faced rising star Paula Moltzan (USA) in a very tight battle. Vlhova was able to take her third victory this season after the American athlete crashed and skied out in the last section of the course.

Lara Gut-Behrami was back on the podium on GS skis after nearly four years. The Swiss speed athlete showed an incredible form, scoring the fastest time in the qualifications on Thursday morning. She proved to be in good shape even during the knock out stages, where she only surrendered to Paula Moltzan in the semi-final. Gut went on to win the small final against Sarah Hector and secured the third spot on the podium.

Paula Moltzan (USA) was indeed the shining star in Lech's night event. Moltzan skied very consistently throughout the whole evening, eliminating Marta Bassino (winner in Soelden) on her way to the big final. The American can therby celebrate her first World Cup podium after achieving her first top 10 finish in Soelden eralier this season.

Coming into the parallel event, Paula didn't have expectations. Having traveled from Levi, Finland, where she was 23rd in the second of two World Cup slalom races on Sunday, she was just hoping for a top-30 and some points. She walked away with her first podium, and what a sweet Thanksgiving gift it was.

Paula came out of the morning's qualifier round ranked fifth, and an unexpected favorite heading into the final round on Thursday evening. With the new parallel format, the top 30 from the qualifying round receive World Cup points, but only the top 16 advance to the final head-to-head elimination round.

The conditions were amazing at Lech Zeurs. "It was really good, the snow conditions were unbelievable," said Paula. "The snow held up for every round, so that was a really nice thing to experience as well as the lights were awesome. Obviously, we were missing the crowd, but I had a great group of teammates cheering me on in the finish."

What does Paula want to do first to celebrate her first podium on Thanksgiving? Call her mom, of course. "I'm kind of overwhelmed, but I'm really lucky and really excited to have a great team to share it with, so I'm excited to see all of them and get the hugs...and I can't wait to talk to my mom," she said with a big smile 

You could say Paula's path to the World Cup podium was unconventional. She grew up skiing at Buck Hill, Minnesota under the legendary Erich Sailer. She spoke about her humble beginnings after the race, "I started skiing because my parents were ski instructors at this tiny little hill in Minnesota [Buck Hill]," she continued, "and in the winter instead of going to daycare while they taught skiing, I'd just go join the lessons with them. I was the youngest of three, so I was just trying to keep up with my two siblings."

She was on the U.S. Ski Team, but when she didn't make criteria in 2017, she opted to go to University of Vermont to ski for the Cats and continue her career. There, she not only was crowned NCAA Slalom Champion in 2017, but also found the joy of skiing again. Straddling both NCAA and the World Cup during the 2018-19 season, Paula found success once again at the World Cup level and achieved criteria for the U.S. Ski Team again in 2019-20. After a tough 2019-20 season, she worked tirelessly in the offseason, often doing two-a-day workouts...and all of that hard work has more than paid off.

AJ Hurt scored her first World Cup points, landing in 25th, while both Nina O'Brien and Allie Resnick—who was starting in her first World Cup—showed off some fast skiing but DNFed. They are both OK.

After the race, clearly psyched for her teammate, AJ said, "It feels great to finally get in the points and even better to get them the same day as my other teammate's first World Cup podium. It's a great way to start the ski season for the whole team!"

Katie Hensien and Lila Lapanja also started for the U.S., finishing 47th and 57th, respectively.