Laurence St-Germain stuns Mikaela Shiffrin to take slalom world title
The Canadian secured her country's first gold in slalom after 63 years as Shiffrin collected her 14th World Championship medal at Meribel.
Alpine Skiing
Laurence St-Germain claimed Canada's second gold at the 2023 alpine skiing World Championships on Saturday (18 February) by upsetting pre-race favourite Mikaela Shiffrin in the women's slalom.
The 28-year-old, who is yet to make a World Cup podium, won her country's first major slalom title since Anne Heggtveit took gold at the Olympic Winter Games in 1960, whish also doubled as the World Championship.
St-Germain, who was third fastest after starting the first run with bib number 18, posted a total time of 1:43.15 to finish 0.57 seconds ahead of first-run leader Shiffrin on the Roc de Fer course in Meribel, France.
"I followed my plan. I attacked, I didn't let my nerves affect me too much for the second run. I can't be more proud of myself," the newly-crowned champion said after the race on Eurosport-Discovery.
Olympic silver medallist Wendy Holdener was second after the first run but failed to finish the second, allowing Germany's Lena Duerr to step on the podium, 0.67 seconds behind the winner.
Shiffrin, who was seeking her fifth slalom world title, made some uncharacteristic errors on the second run and saw her 0.61-second lead quickly disappear, with St-Germain overtaking her at the last time split.
The American star said, "She and the Canadian team just deserve to be celebrated today. For me, the last two weeks has been ups and down, it's been a complete World Championships, and I can't explain the emotions to finish it with another medal."
The seven-time world champion ended the competition with two silvers (slalom, super G) and one gold (giant slalom) to take her tally to 14 medals at Worlds, one shy of Germany's Christel Cranz all-time record.
Results – 2023 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships women's slalom
- Laurence St-Germain (CAN) 1:43.15
- Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) +0.57
- Lena Duerr (GER) +0.69
- Mina Fuerst Holtmann (NOR) +0.71
- Petra Vlhova (SVK) +0.85
- Aline Danioth (SUI) +0.97
- Sara Hector (SWE) +1.12
- Lara Della Mea (ITA) +1.19
- Ana Bucik (SLO) +1.22
- Hanna Aronsson Elfman (SWE) +1.31