Olympic and two-time world champion Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States stormed to a comprehensive victory in the women's World Cup slalom in Are on Saturday.
Shiffrin finished a massive 1.41sec faster than Slovakian Veronika Velez Zuzulova, with Sarka Strachova of the Czech Republic completing the podium, at 2.15sec.
The 20-year-old Shiffrin, whose gold at the Sochi Olympics was sandwiched by victories at both the 2013 and 2015 world championships, held a lead of 0.49sec after the first leg down the Olympia piste and produced a no-holds barred descent of the second run for an outstanding win.
"I'm trying to take each run like it's my last run!" said Shiffrin.
"I'm putting all of my heart into it and ski my fastest and see what happens. I don't want to have any regrets."
Shiffrin added: "Sometimes my nerves are worse if I have a big lead. I think something is going to go wrong!"
With her victory, the American consolidated her place atop the discipline standings ahead of the decisive season-ending finale in Meribel next week.
She has now amassed 579 points, 90pts ahead of Sweden's Frida Hansdotter, who could only finish sixth on home snow.
"I think the first couple of races of the season I was pretty arrogant and was like, 'I'm just going to win these, I guess.' And I didn't. I wasn't even close," Shiffrin said with an eye on the Meribel finals.
"When you're racing at a high level - or doing any sport at a high level — everybody's going for the win. I learned that I can't take my foot off the gas and expect to win. These last races, I was pushing everything. Any race that I won this season, I was giving my entire heart into it. I'm proud of that."
Shiffrin added: "Meribel is not an easy hill. I trained a little there this season and Veronika Zuzulova was really fast on that hill.
"I'm actually a little bit nervous, but excited. It's a good challenge. We'll see!"
In the overall standings, Slovenia's Tina Maze accrued 15 points for her 16th place to leave her on 1311pts, cutting the deficit on leader Anna Fenninger of Austria (1341) to just 30pts.
Source: AFP