KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia — Petra Vlhova secured her third consecutive World Cup slalom at Kranjska Gora on Sunday in the continued absence of her arch-rival Mikaela Shiffrin. The American star, grieving for her dead father, was deposed at the top of the slalom overall standings by Vlhova. The win completes a great weekend for the 28-year-old who climbed above Shiffrin in the discipline standings, and closed the gap on her in the overall after also coming second in the giant slalom here on Saturday. The Slovakian had come in a modest fourth in the first run behind Anna Swenn-Larsson who was on target to prevail until a spectacular wipe out near the end of the second run. Vlhova beat Wendy Holdener by 0.24sec which earned the Swiss a record she would rather not own as it was her 24th podium in slalom without a win. Austria"s Katharina Truppe took third, at 0.089s for her second career podium. Vlhova now leads the race for the slalom small crystal globe on 460 points, 20 clear of Shiffrin. The absent American however still leads the overall standings with 1225 points, Federica Brignone is placed second on 1112 and Vlhova third on 1071. — AFP