The surface started to break after just a couple of skiers. It was therefore not surprising that Camille Rast of Switzerland (start number 3), Lara Colturi of Albania (2) and Katharina Liensberger of Austria (1) formed the top three after the first run.
Even slalom giant Mikaela Shiffrin, who had won all four slalom events in the World Cup, couldn't make the top three. She was just over half a second behind Rast in fourth place halfway into the race.
Half the starting field retired in the first run, a record number according to Viaplay, which relies on statistics that go back to the year 2000.
106th victory
The packed snow wasn't the only annoyance. Shiffrin, like several skiers, was unhappy with the course layout and had the organizers move one of the poles for the second run to make it clearer which way to take.
After that adjustment, the American dominated her opponents. The 30-year-old produced one of many fantastic runs in her career, taking her fifth straight slalom victory and 106th World Cup victory overall.
Camille Rast came in second, nine hundredths of a second behind Shiffrin, and Lara Colturi came in third, 57 hundredths of a second from victory.
All five Swedes managed to advance from the first run despite the conditions.
Olympic ticket ready?
Cornelia Öhlund was the best performer. The 20-year-old was the best Swede after the first run, in eighth place, 1.65 seconds behind. She followed up with another good run and climbed to a final seventh place (+2.85 seconds), a season best and a result that could give her a ticket to the Olympics in Cortina in February.
Anna Swenn-Larsson (9th after the first run) and Sara Hector (14th) had great second runs, but both crashed out.
Estelle Alphand finished 19th (+6.50 seconds) and Hanna Aronsson Elfman 21st (+7.08 seconds).
