Canadian skier stuns world with gold-medal run in women’s slalom

'I attacked, had a bit of a mistake, just thinking go down, go down, go down, and it worked out, I guess.'

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

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,” said St-Germain, who hails from Saint-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Que.

“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.

It was Canada’s fourth medal — and second gold — at this year’s world championships.

The medal harvest began with James Crawford’s gold in the super-G on Feb. 9, and continued last Sunday with Cameron Alexander’s bronze-medal performance in the downhill.

The Canadian foursome of Valerie Grenier, Jeffrey Read, Britt Richardson and Erik Read. added to the total with a bronze medal in the mixed team parallel event on Tuesday.