Hansdotter wins to gain boost ahead of world championships

Swedish skier Frida Hansdotter struck a psychological blow against American rival and Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin ahead of next month's World Championships by winning the women's World Cup slalom at the Austrian resort of Flachau on Tuesday.
Hansdotter, 29, recorded only her second World Cup win -- the previous coming at Kransjka Gora last February -- with a combined time over the two legs of 1min 49.59sec and celebrated victory in front of 14,000 spectators.
"This mean a lot to me," said Hansdotter. "I have been second so often (11 times in the World Cup) that it does me a lot of good to win at last."
Slovenia's Tina Maze, who leads the overall World Cup standings, was second, three-fifths of a second slower, with 19-year-old Shiffrin -- who will be defending her world title on American snow in Vail, Colorado -- third, 0.69sec adrift of the winner.
Hansdotter, who had finished second on the last two occasions at Flachau behind Shiffrin, extended her lead in the World Cup slalom standings over the American, who had charged back into contention with four successive wins.
Source: AFP