Petra Vlhová was the parallel giant slalom race winner in Lech-Zürs ©Getty Images

Petra Vlhová continued her flying start to the International Ski Federation (FIS) Alpine Ski World Cup season by winning the first parallel giant slalom race in Lech-Zürs.

The Slovakian defeated Paula Moltzan of the United States in the big final as he she followed up her back-to-back victories in the slalom races in the Finnish resort Levi last weekend.

Moltzan trailed by 0.21sec after the first run before crashing out in the second as Vlhová recorded a combined time of 46.29.

Top seed Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland completed the podium after beating Sweden’s Sara Hector in the small final.

Marta Bassino of Italy finished in fifth with Norwegian Thea Louise Stjernesund coming sixth.

There were also top 10 finishes for Federica Brignone of Italy, Austrian Elisa Mörzinger, Polish skier Maryna Gąsienica-Daniel and Adriana Jelinkova of The Netherlands.

Vlhová beat Jelinkova by just four hundredths of a second ahead of Brignone by the same margin.

Petra Vlhová proved too strong for Paula Moltzan as she claimed her third successive World Cup victory ©Getty Images
Petra Vlhová proved too strong for Paula Moltzan as she claimed her third successive World Cup victory ©Getty Images

It was even closer against Hector with Vlhová triumphing by one hundredth of a second before she went on to defeat Moltzan.

Vlhová has finished on the podium in the opening four events of the season with a third place in Sölden, followed by two wins in Levi and then another victory in Lech-Zürs.

Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States opted out of the event as the three-time overall World Cup winner continues her comeback.

The men’s contest is scheduled to take place tomorrow.

The competition in Lech-Zürs had been postponed by almost two weeks because of a lack of snow in the resort.

It was originally planned for November 13 and 14.