Prior Lake's Paula Moltzan finishes 8th in women's slalom

BEIJING — Her second run was not as strong as her first run, but it was enough for a smile to cross Paula Moltzan's face.

Moltzan, with a combined time of 1 minute, 48.18 seconds, finished eighth in the women's slalom at the National Alpine Skiing Center. That was good enough for the highest finish by a USA skier in the event.

"This is a really big stage in a big event for me and I've never been in any sort of competition like this," said Moltzan, who was born in Prior Lake, learned skiing at Buck Hill and attended Lakeville South High School for two years. "So I'm really proud of myself and my team right now."

Slovakia's Petra Vlhova won gold in 1:44.98. That was just 0.08 faster than Austria's Katharina Leinsberger. Wendy Holdener of Switzerland took bronze.

Moltzan was sixth after the first run, which she completed in 52.79 seconds. She set herself up to threaten for a medal with a big run. But she had a hiccup midway through the course that cost her time,

"A couple of mistakes here and there, but it's a work in progress," she said. "I'm not the best in the world yet, but I'm trying to be."

It's been a tough week for a couple of her teammates, as Nina O'Brien suffered a compound fracture of her leg during the giant slalom on Monday and Mikaela Shiffrin, expected to challenge for gold, missed gates in the first run on Monday and Wednesday.

That might have been why Moltzan, once again, expressed relief that she was able to have four safe trips on a course called the Ice River.

"Obviously, a podium would have been incredible," she said, "but I'm still so thrilled with the top 10."