Four-peat for Shiffrin or first Worlds gold for Olympic champion Hansdotter?

On Saturday, 16 February, it is time for the ladies to challenge the mountain and maneuver the slalom gates. Will favorite Mikaela Shiffrin claim her fourth gold? Or can any of the top challengers Petra Vlhova, Wendy Holdener, Frida Hansdotter or Anna Swenn-Larsson beat the American?

The ladies' slalom might become a genuine thriller, even though the reigning many-time world champion Mikaela Shiffrin has showed great form throughout the season and dominated the World Cup with six wins in the slalom. Her super-G gold and GS bronze at Åre 2019 show that the 23-year-old from Vail, Colorado remains in great shape.

The new GS world champion Petra Vlhova, Slovakia, has also had a fantastic season with a victory in Flachau and five second places in World Cup slaloms. Her gold medal on Thursday showed that she is not affected by the weather and instead focuses all her energy on pulling out two perfect runs.

– The slopes in Åre and the race surface fit me perfectly. Now I'm going to take it easy and try to find a lot of strength for the slalom, said Petra with a relaxed smile.

Number three in the slalom rankings, Wendy Holdener, Switzerland, might have that extra bit of confidence after she claimed gold in the alpine combined with only three hundredths of seconds. She might also be looking for revenge after that Olympic silver at PyeongChang 2018?

Swedes going for gold 

The Swedish hopes Frida Hansdotter and Anna Swenn-Larsson have proven that they can be strong contenders in Saturday's slalom medal event.

Frida, the reigning Olympic gold medalist, is used to delivering under pressure. And that's something her competitors knowl. Frida's mental strength together with her technical skills, balance and long experience make a combination that will be hard to beat. Following the gold medal at PyeongChang, her home club in Norberg re-named their training and competition hill Fridabacken. What if Frida manages to the snatch gold again here in Åre?

–  Everything feels great! I had a great training session at Tott and now I feel ready. It will be so much fun racing the slalom here, says Frida.

Anna, who lives in Åre, returned from Maribor with a second place finish under her belt, and showed at the team competition that she’s fast, strong and has a tremendous drive to go for it on her home turf. She doesn’t want to see herself as one of the favorites, but based on her performance it's inevitable.

– It feels awesome to get out there and race again. The atmosphere during the team event was magical and it feels like it can be even better at the slalom. I feel well and just want to focus on my race and then we'll just have to wait and see how far it takes me,” says Anna, who got a huge energy rush following the race earlier this week.

One thing is certain, it will be a fight to the bitter end one. Every turn will count. It will be close. And it will be exiting.