Canadian skier St-Germain beats Shiffrin to slalom gold

Canada's Laurence St-Germain gets to the finish area after completing the women's World Championship slalom, in Meribel, France, Saturday Feb. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

MERIBEL, France — Canadian skier Laurence St-Germain beat first-run leader Mikaela Shiffrin to win gold in the women's slalom at the world championships Saturday.

The American finished 0.57 seconds behind St-Germain after the final run to settle for silver.

Lena Duerr of Germany was 0.69 behind and won bronze.

"I was really not expecting this, obviously. It's unbelievable," St-Germain said. "I attacked, had a bit of a mistake, just thinking go down, go down, go down, and it worked out, I guess."

It was the first gold for Canada in women's slalom since Anne Heggtveit won at the 1960 Olympics in Squaw Valley, which also counted as the world championships.

St-Germain's previous best result at major championships was sixth in the slalom at the 2019 worlds. Sixth is also her best finish in a World Cup slalom, in Levi in 2020.

Shiffrin's silver adds to the gold she won in the giant slalom Thursday and silver in the super-G last week.

Shiffrin, the 2014 Olympic champion, won the world slalom title four times between 2013 and 2019 and took the bronze medal two years ago. She became the first skier, male or female, to win six medals in one discipline at world championships.

Shiffrin is expected back at World Cup racing in March.

Saturday's race was the last women's event of the worlds. The championships close with the men's slalom Sunday.