Swiss skier Rast leads, Shiffrin stands third in first run of slalom at Alpine world championships

By Canadian Press on February 15, 2025.

SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria (AP) — Swiss skier Camille Rast built a big lead and Mikaela Shiffrin was looming in third in the opening run of the women’s slalom at the Alpine world championships on Saturday.

Rast finished 0.58 seconds ahead of Katharina Liensberger of Austria, who won the slalom world title in 2021.

Rast leads the slalom season standings after getting the first two World Cup wins of her career. She won gold in slalom at the 2017 junior world championships.

Shiffrin had 0.72 to make up in the second run later Saturday.

The American star is chasing her record 16th career medal at the worlds.

She won gold with American teammate Breezy Johnson in the team combined on Tuesday but sat out the giant slalom two days later. She felt not ready yet to race GS after recovering from an abdominal injury sustained in a GS crash in November.

Shiffrin has won a medal in slalom, including four in gold, at all six previous world championships she competed in since 2013.

Swiss skier Wendy Holdener was eight-tenths off the lead in fourth.

Shiffrin’s American teammate Paula Moltzan was 1.55 behind in fifth. Moltzan won her first career individual medal by taking bronze in Thursday’s giant slalom.

Zrinka Ljutic was one of the pre-race favorites after winning three of the last four slaloms on the World Cup circuit but the Croatian finished 2.14 seconds behind.

Defending champion Laurence St-Germain of Canada didn’t finish her run.

Standings were provisional as lower-ranked skiers were still racing.

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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing

The Associated Press

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