Slalom, surprise Laurence St. Germain: she is world champion

Surprise world champion after an unforgettable second run.

Laurence St. Germain wins the Women’s Slalom at the 2023 World Ski Championships, amazingly beating by 57 hundredths of a second a Mikaela Shiffrin who authored a second run full of mistakes. For Canada it is a historic success, while also smiling is Lara Della Mea. The Italian finished in fact eighth, +1.19 from the winner. For her, however, comes the best time of the second run, with 18 positions recovered from the first.

Canada had not won a world gold since 2003, when Melanie Turgeon won it. The last gold in slalom, on the other hand, was as far back as 1960, when Anne Heggtveit won it. Laurence St. Germain’s exploit is made all the more historic by the fact that the 28-year-old Quebec native had never finished higher than eighth in the Slalom at the World Cup (a result she achieved in 2021) and higher than sixth at the World Championships (she succeeded in 2019). At the 2018 Olympics, however, she finished 15th.