The 29-year-old managed to hold on after taking a 0.23 second lead from the first run as she posted a combined winning time of 1:49.59 to finish ahead of overall leader Tina Maze.

Maze was 0.61 seconds off the pace but she managed to extend her lead at the top of the standings, and she now leads Mikaela Shiffrin - the American prodigy who powered to claim the last spot on the podium despite lying in eighth after the first run - by 252 points.

The slalom is where Hansdotter seems to be at home as she added victory in Austria to two fourth-placed finishes in Kühtai and Zagreb.

"I really love that night race here in Flachau and it's such a nice feeling to win tonight," Hansdotter said.

"The crowd is amazing and the atmosphere is great, today I felt this could be my day.

"I just tried to go for it and it went well."

Hansdotter posted a time of 55.40 in her first run which gave her the perfect platform to seal the win with an even quicker time of 54.19 in her second run.

Tina Maze extended her lead at the top of the overall World Cup leaderboard with a second-placed finish in Flachau ©Getty Images



Maze meanwhile earned her 75th top three finish, which leaves her in 10th in the all-time World Cup podium list.

"I was training well in the last days and was pretty confident about my slalom here," she said.

"I did pretty good, it's a great result and I am very happy about it."

The night race provided the bumper crowd in attendance with high-quality entertainment and Shiffrin, who struggled on her first run, then produced the quickest display of the evening in her second run on her way to a third-placed finish.

"In the first run I skied pretty conservative, pretty round especially compared to the girls after me," Shiffrin said.

"But I mostly tried to attack more, I felt like the surface was better and I was able to edge more in the snow and arc cleaners turns.

"I still didn't think my second run was good enough to win."

The World Cup continues this week with two downhill races and a Super-G in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
January 2015: Gross tastes Alpine Skiing World Cup success for first time
January 2015: Hirscher completes FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup slalom hat-trick in Zagreb
January 2015: US star Shiffrin dominates Zagreb World Cup to become skiing Snow Queen