The city event featuring duel slalom action initially went exactly as planned on the women's side at least, with Vlhová and Shiffrin both making the final.

The two have already raced for gold five times this season with Shiffrin winning every contest, but this time the roles were revered as the Slovak took victory.

The win, by 0.39 seconds, sees the 23-year-old become the most successful Slovakian slalom skier of all time, while defeat for Shiffrin was just her second loss of the season.

The small final for third place was won by Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener, who beat Anna Swenn Larsson from Sweden by 0.27 seconds.

There was a shock in the men’s event too as Austria’s Marcel Hirscher did not even make the semi-finals.

The seven-time World Cup champion failed to finish his quarter final against Great Britain’s Dave Ryding and so missed out on the podium entirely.

Ryding went on to reach the first World Cup final of his career, but a mistake of his own saw him lose the title to another Austrian Marco Schwarz, who in winning claimed his first victory.

Just like in the women’s event Switzerland claimed the bronze medal, this time through Ramon Zenhaeusern, winner of the Olympic slalom silver at Pyeongchang 2018.

Shiffrin and Hirscher both maintained their leads in the overall standings, despite their defeats today, due to their multiple wins earlier in the season.

The Tour is now due to move to Zagreb in Croatia, where slalom action will take place for both men and women on Friday and Saturday (January 5 and 6).