San Francisco Frontiers - 'Happy' Shiffrin dominates in Levi slalom for 102nd World Cup win

The 30-year-old, who missed much of last year to serious injury before coming back to clinch her 100th World Cup victory, set up her win with a stunning opening run when she finished over a second ahead of her nearest challenger.

She wrapped up victory with a second devastating run to clock a total of 1 minute 48.92 seconds.

Shiffrin was the quickest on both runs and finished 1.66sec ahead of Lara Colturi on her 19th birthday with the German Emma Aicher coming strong in the second run to claim her first ever World Cup podium.

It marked a 65th slalom win for Shiffrin and showed definitively that she is over last season's horrific injury.

"Well I have trusted the training I did with my team and we did really good work over the summer," she said.

"So the final step was mentality and pushing and it was really nice to race today."

After posting her ninth victory in Levi, her record number of victories on a single slope, she admitted that she enjoyed racing in Lapland.

"(It's) starting to feel a little more like home," she said. "I really enjoyed being here and so happy to kick off this long season."

At the end of October, in the opening giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, the American took a promising fourth place, but her victory in Finland lifts her to the top of the nascent overall standings where she leads compatriot Paula Moltzan by 20 points.

P.Thomas--SFF