SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria (AP) — Camille Rast beat teammate Wendy Holdener as Switzerland took gold and silver in the women’s slalom at the Alpine skiing world championships on Saturday.
Mikaela Shiffrin finished fifth and missed out on what would have been the American’s record-setting 16th career medal from the worlds. She shares the best mark with German skier Christl Cranz, who won 15 medals in the 1930s.
Shiffrin, who recently returned from a two-month injury layoff, dropped from third after the opening run but was still satisfied with “some of the best skiing I’ve done lately.”
Shiffrin had won a medal in slalom — including four gold — at all six previous world championships she competed in since 2013.
Rast held on to her big first-run lead to beat Holdener by 0.46 seconds.
“Mentally I was ready for this day. I just wanted to enjoy the whole day. It’s mega cool to be on the podium with Wendy,” Rast said. “Everything must fit to win a world title and today that was the case. We have a cool team spirit and push each other forward.”
Katharina Liensberger was 1.32 seconds behind in third.
The Austrian, who won the slalom world title in 2021, dedicated the medal to her late grandmother, who died two months ago.
“I wanted to do this race for her,” said the Austrian, who edged out fourth-place Paula Moltzan for bronze by two-hundredths of a second.
The American had won bronze in giant slalom on Thursday and posted the second-fastest time in the final run Saturday to finish three-hundredths ahead of Shiffrin.
Moltzan’s final run was even 0.21 seconds faster than Rast’s, but the American was full of praise for the winner.
“She’s impressive,” Moltzan said. “It’s just so next level. She can point her skis so straight down the hill and make such a clean turn. It’s just inspiring. And she’s a really kind person and that’s important as well.”
Rast was competing at her fifth worlds and won her first medal, after she took gold in slalom at the 2017 junior world championships. She leads the slalom season standings after getting the first two World Cup wins of her career.
“It’s a super season, especially in slalom,” Rast said. “But I did not put myself under the pressure that I had to win a medal here. This attitude was just right to get one.”
Holdener posted the fastest second-run time to improve from fourth position and earn her third silver medal at the worlds, after finishing runner-up in the team combined with Lara Gut-Behrami and in the mixed-team parallel event last week.
“I think I am the record holder for second places,” quipped Holdener, who missed most of last season as she recovered from a fractured left ankle and dealt with the loss of her brother, Kevin, who died in February.
“Today it’s OK to win silver, I showed what I can do. I am grateful to be here in Saalbach and to be so successful,” she said. “The team and my family helped me to gain energy again.”
It was Holdener’s ninth career medal from the worlds, matching the Swiss record held by Gut-Behrami and Pirmin Zurbriggen.
Shiffrin 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 Killington, Vermont in November.
“It was a big challenge to keep up with the pace, and for me especially on the end of the course. It’s like 15 seconds longer than anything I’ve skied since before Killington,” Shiffrin said.
The American competed in one World Cup race before arriving at the worlds, finishing 10th in a night slalom in France.
“I was twice as good as I was in Courchevel,” Shiffrin said. “It’s a lot to process right now, but in the end it was just a beautiful world championship slalom race.”
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 2.73 seconds behind in ninth.
Defending champion Laurence St-Germain of Canada didn’t finish her first run.
Olympic slalom champion Petra Vlhova didn’t race as she’s still recovering from knee surgery a year ago. The Slovakian standout told Austrian TV she had “no idea” when she might return to racing.
The world championships end with the men’s slalom on Sunday.
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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
The Associated Press
