Petra Vlhová, left, and Mikaela Shiffrin, right, shared victory at the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup in Maribor ©Getty Images

Mikaela Shiffrin from the United States and Petra Vlhová from Slovakia have been forced to share the spoils at the International Ski Federation Alpine Skiing World Cup in Maribor after both skiers finished the giant slalom event with the same time.

Going into her second run in Slovenia 23-year-old Shiffrin, the reigning Olympic champion in the event, had a lead of almost half-a-second over her rival.

In foggy conditions, a clean start to her second run meant it looked as if Shiffrin would seal the 55th World Cup win over her rival outright.

A slight mistake towards the end of the course, however, meant both her and Vlhová ended up with identical times of 2min 31.31sec, at what was the last giant slalom event before the World Championships in Åre next week. 

Mikaela Shiffrin started her second ahead by 0.48 seconds, but a slight mistake saw her lose the outright lead ©Getty Images
Mikaela Shiffrin started her second ahead by 0.48 seconds, but a slight mistake saw her lose the outright lead ©Getty Images

For Vlhová, while technically winning will undoubtedly be satisfying, sharing the victory with Shifftin does mean the gap to the US skier at the top of the World Cup standings remains exactly the same, at 596 points.

Coming third today, almost a full second behind the top two, was Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel in 2:32.24.

Tomorrow the women’s World Cup is due to continue with a slalom contest, while a men’s World Cup will begin with a downhill competition in Garmish-Partenkirchen in Germany.