Alpine skiing-Shiffrin a close third after first slalom run
March 18 (Reuters) - U.S. ski queen Mikaela Shiffrin remained in contention for the final slalom race of the World Cup season at Aspen, Colorado on Saturday. Already the overall winner of the crystal globe, Shiffrin was third in the first run in 45.59 seconds, 0.07 behind Slovakia's Petra Vlhova. Sandwiched between the two was Sweden's Frida Hansdotter, just 0.03 behind Vlhova in 45.55 seconds. Shiffrin, 22, becomes only the third U.S. woman to win the overall title. Her closest competitor, Slovenia's Ilka Stuhec, withdrew from the slalom on Friday. (Reporting by Gene Cherry in Salvo, North Carolina, Editing by Neville Dalton)
