Charging down the Podkoren slalom course, AJ Hurt laid down the run of her career.

The 23-year-old Californian ski racer clocked the fastest time among 30 racers in her afternoon run to make the massive leap from 16th after the morning run and achieve her first FIS World Cup podium. Hurt finished a career-best third in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, an enormous improvement from her previous world cup slalom best result of 25th in December.

“It feels amazing – it doesn’t really feel real right now,” said Hurt, who is in her seventh season on the Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team. “I don’t know what else to say other than it was amazing. I didn’t expect this, but I’m very happy right now.”

Hurt clocked 55.10 seconds in her second run on the demanding slope made even more difficult by deteriorating, wet snow conditions, due to mild temperatures and mixed precipitation. She was a staggering 1.22 seconds faster than race winner Petra Vlhova.

“I felt like maybe everyone else was hoping that the snow would freeze, but I liked (skiing) in this snow,” Hurt said. “I just knew that I could send it and it felt really good.”

The former FIS World Junior Alpine Championships slalom medalist has been rounding into top form as of late posting a career world cup best of ninth in a GS in Mt. Tremblant, Canada, last month. She also won back-to-back Nor Am Cup slaloms on the same racehill a few days later.

Hurt sat in the leader’s chair as 13 racers failed to beat her two-run time of 1:48.49. Finally, Germany’s Lena Duerr bumped her to second, before Vlhova claimed victory.

“I thought maybe I could get a top 10, and then I was in eighth and I thought no way could my best slalom be better than my best GS,” she said. “It’s surreal, very much so.”

Hurt’s brilliance performance came on a rare day in which her U.S. teammate Mikaela Shiffrin had an uncharacteristic DNF, having straddled a gate in her first run. Battling a cold, it was only the second time over Shiffrin’s last 50 world cup slalom starts that she has skied out.

The 93-time FIS World Cup winner heaped praise on her younger U.S. teammate via social media. “OMG!!!, Worst part about the first run straddling and sickness? Not being able to witness in person the most incredible performance by AJ Hurt absolutely SLAYING to her first World Cup podium ever. That was astounding,” Shiffrin wrote.

Breakthrough Performance Made as AJ Hurt Races to a Podium Finish in Kranjska Gora Slalom

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