KILLINGTON, Vt. — In the Killington Cup slalom held on Sunday, German skier Lena Duerr took the lead after the initial run, while Mikaela Shiffrin did not participate due to a serious crash she experienced the previous day during the giant slalom event.
Duerr clocked a time of 53.87 seconds, which put her 0.11 seconds ahead of Sweden’s Anna Swenn Larsson, who was the winner of the Killington slalom in 2022. Camille Rast from Switzerland occupied the third position as the competition progressed.
At 33 years old, Duerr has yet to secure a victory at the Killington Cup slalom, a title that has predominantly been held by Shiffrin, who won the event six times out of its seven-year history. In the previous year’s competition, Duerr finished fourth, and she concluded the last season as the second-ranked skier in the World Cup slalom standings behind Shiffrin. Throughout her 16-year career in the World Cup arena, Duerr has claimed victory in only two events, separated by a decade—an urban event in 2013 and a slalom race in 2023.
Duerr has consistently been in the shadow of elite slalom competitors, notably Shiffrin and Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova. Shiffrin and Vlhova have dominated the slalom scene for over a decade, but with Vlhova still recuperating from a crash and knee surgery last winter, and Shiffrin out of the race due to a puncture wound and muscle trauma following her crash, the competition for the 2024 Killington Cup slalom title was completely up for grabs.
Rast marked a career milestone by earning her first World Cup slalom podium last weekend in Gurgl, Austria. She followed that achievement with another podium finish, securing her first World Cup giant slalom podium at Killington, placing third in both events.
