Germany's Schaffelhuber had won each of the previous slalom events on the opening two days of competition in Spain but could not complete each of her two runs today, opening the door for Stephens to take her first win of the meet in 1min 35sec.

The victory did not come easy, however, with Schaffelhuber's team mate Anna-Lena Forster finishing just 0.12 seconds behind in second to claim her third podium of the competition.

Kimberley Joines, who competes for 2015 IPC World Championships hosts Canada, was nine seconds further adrift in third.

Croatia's Dino Sokolovic finally put to bed the inconsistency that has plagued his performances in La Molina as he took gold in the men's slalom sitting event on Spanish slopes.

Sokolovic had finished fastest in one of his two runs on the opening two days of action but inconsistency had costs him podium finishes on each occasion.

That was not to be the case today, however, with two great runs giving him the edge over Japan's slalom world and Paralympic champion Takeshi Suzuki by the narrowest of margins.

The 26-year-old totalled an overall time of 1:25.46 to edge out Suzuki, who recorded 1:25.54, while France's Jean Yves Le Meur was a further second behind in 1:26.46.

Valerii Redkozubov completed a hattrick of wins with victory in the men's visually impaired slalom event in La Molina ©Getty Images



Russia's slalom Paralympic champion Valerii Redkozubov completed his hat-trick of victories in Spain after flying to victory in 1:17.30 in the visually impaired slalom contest, alongside guide Evgeny Geroev.

Canada's Mac Marcoux and guide, and brother, BJ moved one step up the podium into second place after finishing in 1:22.36, pushing Russian Ivan Frantcev and guide German Agranovskii into third.

Spain's Ana Maria Selvi Solsana and guide Esther Noguera I Hidalgo also completed the treble in the women's visually impaired after finishing their runs in 1:48.97.

Marie Bochet returned to winning ways in the women's standing contest following her shock defeat to America youngster Stephanie Jallen yesterday.

The French superstar recorded a time of 1:24.62 to finish almost five seconds clear of her US counterpart while Russia's Inga Medvedeva retained her 100 per cent podium record in third.

Russia's 17-year-old world champion Alexey Bugaev made it three in three as he raced to victory in the men's standing contest.

The Russian finished in 1:17.87 to head-off a challenge from Switzerland's Thomas Pfyl, who claimed his first World Cup podium.

Alexander Alyabyev was less than a second behind the Swiss skier in third.

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