Ljutic edges Holdener for World Cup slalom victory

Croatia's Zrinka Ljutic held her nerve to edge Wendy Holdener for victory in the women's World Cup slalom in Kranjska Gora on Sunday.

Ljutic, who won the Semmering slalom last weekend, and her Swiss rival had been tied as leaders after the first leg.

But the Croat did just enough on the second run down the Podkoren slope to clinch victory, her combined time of 1min 39.62sec meaning she finished 0.16sec ahead of Holdener.

Sweden's Anna Swenn Larsson rounded out the podium, at 1.19sec.

"I'm speechless," the 20-year-old Ljutic said after her victory in the Slovenian resort.

"I didn't know how well Wendy skied," Ljutic admitted. "I had my own idea and I was really focusing on myself. I decided the tempo of the run, how I wanted to ski, and I really tried to stick to that vision.

"I was trying to push everywhere. The only thing I thought I could do better was let go in the finish a bit earlier, and I was like, 'I hope it's enough', and it was enough."

US star Mikaela Shiffrin and Slovakia's Petra Vlhova were both absent through injury.

In their absence, all eyes were on Sara Hector to see if the Swede could follow up on her giant slalom win on Saturday.

But Hector had to be happy with a sixth-place finish, 1.96sec off Ljutic's pace, behind the Swiss pair of Camille Rast and Melanie Meillard.

Ljutic's victory, just the second of her fledgling career, saw the Croat go atop the overall standings on 456 points, nine points ahead of Hector.

She also sits atop the slalom standings on 309pts, 4pts ahead of Rast.

"After this nice result in Semmering (last weekend), I had a big appetite," Ljutic said. "I obviously wanted to repeat it, and I felt, in some sense, powerful and dominant."