Alpine skiing: Emma Aicher celebrates her first slalom World Cup victory in Levi

The German skiing hope Emma Aicher has won the first slalom of the season. The 23-year-old triumphed at the floodlit event in Levi, Finland, and set the next sporting exclamation mark three weeks after her third place in the giant slalom in Sölden. For Aicher, who is considered a contender to win the overall World Cup this winter, it was the sixth World Cup victory of her career - and the first in slalom.

»Levi was my first World Cup, my first points and my first podium in slalom. "It's a full-circle moment," Aicher told BR: "It's really cool that I got two solid runs down and can be at the top."

One day after her birthday, Aicher won by 0.43 seconds ahead of Lara Colturi, who was competing for Albania. The Austrian Katharina Troupe came third (+0.50). After a botched first round, Aicher's teammate Lena Dürr fought her way up from 30th to 18th place in the second.

Long-time slalom dominator Mikaela Shiffrin, who won nine out of ten slalom runs last winter, decided not to start in Levi. The American had announced that she would do a little less slalom this season and would instead concentrate on giant slalom and super-G. She will also miss the upcoming race weekend in Gurgl in Tyrol.

Maria Höfl-Riesch was the last German to win the overall World Cup – 15 years ago. Aicher, who competed for the big crystal ball until the end last season and was also able to celebrate two Olympic silver medals, certainly fueled hopes with her entry into this winter.

All-rounder Emma Aicher was one of the stars of the Olympics with two silver medals. Some wanted her to specialize – in downhill or slalom. Read here why your coach had other plans.