US ski star Mikaela Shiffrin overcame a "small lung infection" to write herself into the alpine history books Saturday when she produced a devastating second run to win her fourth straight world slalom title. The 23-year-old Shiffrin, who complained of "low-energy levels" after the first run in which she was third fastest, and breathlessness in the second, clocked a combined time of 1min 57.05sec. Anna Swenn-Larsson won Sweden's first medal of these championships with silver, 0.58sec behind, while newly-crowned giant slalom gold medallist Petra Vlhova of Slovakia took bronze (+1.03).
Her incredible performance was vindication for Shiffrin, who won super-G gold in the first week of action in Sweden but came in for criticism from, among others, now-retired teammate Lindsey Vonn, after deciding to skip the combined and downhill.
Just 0.15sec off in the first run, Shiffrin reacted perfectly under massive pressure on the second, taking aggressively to the snow from the off to time an outstanding 59.82sec, a huge 0.62sec faster than her closest rival, and a deficit big enough to guarantee a second gold at these worlds.
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