Laurence St-Germain ends 63-year wait for Canadian slalom World Championships gold -‘Was not expecting this!’

ByBen Southby

Updated 18/02/2023 at 15:34 GMT

Laurence St-Germain ousted legendary American skier Mikaela Shiffrin to end Canada’s 63-year wait for a slalom gold medal at the World Championships in Meribel, France on Saturday. She produced a stunning second run to land her first World Championships gold. After the race, she said: “I just kept thinking, go down, go down, go down. And it worked out!”

Laurence St-Germain sparkled in the Meribel sun as she delivered Canada’s first slalom World Championships gold medal in 63 years on Saturday afternoon.

She fought off competition from the legendary American skier Mikaela Shiffrin to not only make history for her country, but on a personal level land her first World Championships gold.

St-Germain occupied third spot after the first run, but thanks to second place Wendy Holdener’s DNF result in the second leg, and with Shifrin unable to match her spectacular first effort, the 28-year-old took advantage with a stunning run to earn top prize.

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“Kind of weird,” she responded when asked what it felt like to be a world champion. “I was not expecting this, obviously, it’s unbelievable.”

“I was really stressed, I felt nauseous,” she added when she spoke about her feelings ahead of the second run. “I turned to my physio and sometimes he massages my diaphragm because I get really sore and makes me really nauseous so I was like, ‘oh, I’m used to this it's fine’.

“And then I left and I had a bit of a mistake, but I just kept thinking, go down, go down, go down, and it worked out.”

‘The ski of her life!' - St-Germain stuns field to claim slalom gold

Last year, St-Germain finished 17th in the rankings and the year before she came in a respectable sixth, but was a huge outsider going into Saturday’s competition.

With Shiffrin looking to win her third medal of the championships after winning gold in the giant slalom two days ago and silver in the super-G last week, she looked certain to add to her haul when she led the way early on.

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But an inspired second run from St-Germain in a time of 50.00 seconds allowed her to edge ahead, and complete an extraordinary upset.

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