Vlhová had good memories of the Swedish venue having won giant slalom gold and slalom bronze at the 2019 Alpine World Ski Championships.

The Slovakian went halfway to a repeat giant slalom triumph after posting the fastest opening time in the World Cup event, clocking 1min 14.80sec.

The time gave her a narrow 0.03 lead over Italy’s Marta Bassino.

Vlhová increased her advantage significantly by stopping the clock in 1:17.79 in the second run, which was held under floodlights.

The overall time of 2:32.59 saw Vlhová clinch her sixth World Cup win of the season.

Bassino finished as the runner-up in 2:33.83, ending 1.24 seconds adrift of the winner after finishing her second run in 1:19.00.

Olympic giant slalom champion Sara Hector had been third after the opening run, but skied out in the second after straddling a gate.

The podium was instead completed by Shiffrin in a time of 2:34.29, as the American seeks to put her disappointment at Beijing 2022 behind her.

Shiffrin, who failed to finish in three of her events at the Games, remains top of the overall World Cup standings.

The third place saw Shiffrin move onto 1,216 points, with Vlhová now 77 adrift heading into the final five races.

Hector saw her lead in the giant slalom standings cut after failing to finish, with the Swedish skier leading the classification on 522 points.

France’s Tessa Worley is five points behind following a fourth place today.

Only one giant slalom race remains this season.

Tomorrow will see a slalom competition held in Åre, before the season concludes with four races at Meribel in France next week.