January 29, 2023 - A historic day for Croatian skiers as Zrinka Ljutić finishes on the podium for the first time and Leona Popović finishes fifth in the slalom at the World Cup in Špindlerův Mlyn on Sunday! 

Nineteen-year-old Zrinka Ljutić, who had a starting number of 17, was third in the first run. In the end, she finished 49 hundredths of a second behind the winner German Lena Duerr, who had a time of 1:30.91. American Mikaela Shiffrin was second, six-hundredths of a second behind Duerr. Leona Popović was 84 hundredths of a second behind the winner (1:31.75).

This is historic for Croatian skiing for many reasons. For starters, this is Ljutić's first podium finish of her career. So far, her best result at the World Cup was fifth place in Courchevel last year. Popović also achieved the best result of her career after winning fifth place today. She finished sixth place twice last year - in Levi and Schladming.

Ljutić thus secured the first podium finish for Croatian women's skiing after 16 years. This is also the first time after 18 years that Croatia has two skiers among the top ten (Janica Kostelić and Nika Fleiss were second and sixth, respectively). Never before have two Croatian representatives been in the World Cup's top 5. 

With today's result, Shiffrin secured the small Crystal Globe in the slalom but failed to achieve her 86th victory and equal the record held by Swede Ingemar Stenmark for the number of wins at the World Cup.

In the standings of female slalom skiers, Shiffrin has 785 points, Swiss Wendy Holdener is in second with 530, and Petra Vlhova is in third with the same number of points. Popović is seventh with 237 points, and Ljutić is tenth with 190 points.

In the overall standings, Shiffrin is first with 1697 points, Vlhova is second with 966 points, and Swiss Lara Gut Behrami is third with 906 points. Popović is 28th and has 237 points, and Ljutić is 33rd with 208 points.

HRT

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January 9, 2022 - An excellent day for Croatian skiers as Filip Zubčić, Samuel Kolega, Matej Vidović, and Istok Rodeš win points in Adelboden, and Zrinka Ljutić records the first points in her career in Kranjska Gora!

Austrian Johannes Strolz recorded the first victory of his career in the Adelboden slalom, the third slalom of the World Cup this season. He was only seventh after the first run.

Filip Zubčić placed 15th, Samuel Kolega 21st, Matej Vidović 24th, and Istok Rodeš 25th.

For the 29-year-old Strolz, this was his 64th start in the World Cup races, in which his best placement so far was 10th place in the slalom at Madonna di Campiglio two years ago.

Second place (17 hundredths of a second behind) was taken by Strolz's compatriot Manuel Feller, who was also in second place in Saturday's giant slalom. Third place was German Linus Strasser, who was only 14th in the first run, 29 hundredths of a second behind the winner.

Another local skier Fabio Gstrein, who shared the leading position with Feller after the first run, failed to finish the race, as did fifth-placed Frenchman Alexis Pinturault.

The first to race of the Croatian skiers was Matej Vidović, who was 25th in the first run, 1.92 seconds behind Strolz.

Samuel Kolega started well, but his time increased by a second from the second to the third pass. In the end, he was 1.73 seconds behind, enough for 21st place and points in the World Cup for the second time in his career. Filip Zubčić started immediately after his colleague and with 1.03 seconds behind Strolz, he was 15th.

Istok Rodeš was 16th from the first run, but was the weakest of the four Croatians and, in the end, was two seconds behind the leader, dropping from 16th to 25th place.

Twenty-four skiers reached the finish line within one second of the first run. The first seven were shared by only 17 hundredths of a second, so there were big changes at the top in the second run. In the end, the seventh place from the first run celebrated, while 14th place won a spot on the podium!

After three slaloms in the new season, Norwegian Sebastian Foss-Solevaag and Swede Kristoffer Jakobsen are still in the lead with 140 points each, although they did not reach the finish of the first run in Adelboden, just like Frenchman Clement Noel, who has 100 points and shares third place with Johannes Strolz. Filip Zubčić is in an excellent sixth place with 91 points.

Swiss Marco Odermatt leads with 845 points in the overall standings, ahead of Norwegian Alexander Aamodt Kilde with 469 points. Zubčić is in 11th place with 214 points.

The skiers will stay in Switzerland, where they will ride four World Cup races in Wengen from Thursday to Sunday.

In other news, Petra Vlhova celebrated in the fifth of six women's slaloms this season. The great Slovak won first place in the Kranjska Gora slalom. In second was Wendy Holdener and Anna Swenn Larsson cam third.

Zrinka Ljutić won the first points in her career! After pushing into second in the dramatic finale of the first run in 30th place, Ljutić made a solid first career appearance in the second run and won 26th place. Leona Popović won 20th place and thus gained new points in the World Cup.

The third Croatian representative, Andrea Komšić, lost the second run by only six hundredths of a second. Nevertheless, she finished the first run in 31st place, which was not enough to lead to the second run.

With this victory, Vlhova is only 35 points behind the leader Shiffrin, and in third is still Italian Sofia Goggia with 657 points.

Source: HRT

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December 29, 2021 - Slovakia's Petra Vlhova won the World Cup slalom in Lienz, Austria, while Croatian Leona Popović placed 14th, equalling her best career result!

Vlhova, who was the leader after the first run, reached her third slalom victory in four races this season ahead of Austrian Katharina Liensberger in second, and Swiss Michelle Gisin in third, reports Jutarnji List.

This is the 23rd World Cup victory for Vlhova and 15th in the slalom.

Popović, who was 28th after the first run, made excellent use of the early start in the second run and improved by 14 positions with the fifth time. With 2.04 seconds behind Vlhova, she finished in 14th place and thus equaled the best placement in her career, which she achieved on November 21 in Levi.

In the slalom rankings, Vlhova convincingly leads with 380 points, 120 more than the second American Mikaela Shiffrin, who did not perform in Lienz due to COVID-19, while Liensberger is third with 202 points. Popović is the 15th slalom skier in the world with 59 points.

In the first run, two more Croatian skiers competed. 17-year-old Zrinka Ljutić escaped the second run by only four hundredths and remained 31st, the first below the line, while Andrea Komšić did not reach the finish line.

The next slalom race will take place on January 4 in Zagreb.

THE RESULTS:

1. Petra Vlhova (Svk) 1: 42.10

2. Katharina Liensberger (Aut) +0.51

3. Michelle Gisin (Switzerland) +0.68

4. Katharina Truppe (Aut) +0.78

5. Wendy Holdener (Switzerland) +1.04

6. Katharina Gallhuber (Aut) +1.40

7. Camille Rast (Switzerland) +1.48

8. Mina Fuerst Holtmann (Nor) +1.49

9. Laurence St-Germain (Cannes) +1.52

10. Sara Hector (Swe) +1.60

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14. LEONA POPOVIĆ (CRO) +2.04

SLALOM ORDER:

1. Petra Vlhova (Svk) 380

2. Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) 260

3. Katharina Liensberger (Aut) 202

4. Wendy Holdener (Switzerland) 191

5. Lena Duerr (Germany) 178

6. Michelle Gisin (Switzerland) 161

7. Anna Swenn Larsson (Swe) 122

8. Sarah Hector (Swe) 117

9. Katharina Truppe (Aut) 106

10. Andreja Slokar (Slo) 99

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15. LEONA POPOVIĆ (CRO) 59

IN TOTAL:

1. Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) 750

2. Sofia Goggia (Ita) 657

3. Petra Vlhova (Svk) 615

4. Sarah Hector (Swe) 424

5. Federica Brignone (Ita) 407

6. Ramona Siebenhofer (Aut) 341

7. Michelle Gisin (Switzerland) 333

8. Ragnhild Mowinckel (Nor) 330

9. Breezy Johnson (USA) 322

10. Lara Gut-Behrami (Switzerland) 298

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52. LEONA POPOVIĆ (CRO) 59

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Young Croatian skier Leona Popović will not have fond memories of her first performance at the Winter Olympics, after she suffered a heavy knee injury after a fall on Thursday.