Laurence St-Germain wins women’s slalom gold at worlds, ending decades-long drought for Canada

Even hours after her historic world championship slalom victory, Canadian Laurence St-Germain still sorted through the emotions of her golden performance.

St-Germain, 28, shocked herself and the competitive Alpine ski community with a gold-medal performance in Méribel, France, upsetting American Mikaela Shiffrin and denying her a fifth world slalom title Saturday.

St-Germain became the first Canadian to win a women’s slalom since Anne Heggtveit struck gold at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, Calif., which also counted as the world championship. She also became the first Canadian woman to claim a world title in any Alpine discipline since 2003, when Melanie Turgeon won the downhill in St. Moritz.

“To be part of that page of history is crazy,” St-Germain said during a media conference call from France. “But it’s pretty impressive, and I’m proud.”

WATCH l St-Germain beats Shiffrin by 0.57 seconds for gold:

St-Germain beat American Mikaela Shiffrin by 0.57 seconds to top the podium at the alpine world ski championships.

St-Germain is from Saint-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Que., the same village outside of Quebec City as two-time cross-country world champion Alex Harvey.

She also had a connection to Turgeon because she trained on the same hill as Turgeon at Mont-Sainte-Anne resort.

“To follow her as a world champion is really, really special,” St-Germain said.

Anxious moments for St-Germain after 2nd run

After her first run over Meribel’s Roc-de-Fer course, St-Germain was third behind Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener and the front-runner, Shiffrin. There was a 0.61-second difference between the Canadian and American.

St-Germain blazed down the hill to snatch the top spot after her second run, with Holdener and Shiffrin still to come. As she celebrated with teammates Ali Nullmeyer and Amelia Smart, they let her know Holdener straddled a gate and did not finish.

WATCH | St-Germain was ‘stressed and nauseous’ before 2nd run:

Canadian alpine skier Laurence St-Germain talks to the media after winning slalom gold in France.

Duerr kept an eye on the massive video screen as Shiffrin made her down the hill with her second run. The German noticed the American lost time at the top. When Shiffrin crossed .59 seconds behind to finish second behind St-Germain, the Duerr had the answer.

“She told me, ‘Well, you’ll have to stand in the middle now.”‘ St-Germain said.

WATCH l St-Germain steps to the top of the podium:

Watch the award ceremony for the women’s slalom as Canadian Laurence St-Germain steps to the top of the podium ahead of Mikaela Shiffrin and Lena Duerr.

St-Germain’s previous career best results were a sixth-place showing in the slalom at the 2019 worlds and sixth at the 2020 World Cup slalom in Levi, Finland.

“I did a lot of video analysis to see what I was missing, and it motivated me,” St-Germain said. “So I’ve been working really hard to fix those things.

“I knew today I only needed to stick to my skiing and not think about the result but what I needed to do to hopefully get a good result.”

Canada earns 4th medal at world championships

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

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 Tuesday.

As the emotions from her victory set in, St-Germain was asked about rising expectations for her.

“I proved that I could be part of the best. But that doesn’t mean I can easily win other races. I just proved that I went fast and can be part of the fastest girl in the world, and that’s a pretty special day. But it still feels unreal.”

The world championships conclude Sunday with the men’s slalom. Live coverage begins at 3:50 a.m. ET on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.

WATCH | Canada reaches team parallel podium at alpine worlds for 1st time since 2015:

The Canadian team of Valerie Grenier, Jeffrey Read, Britt Richardson and Erik Read capture bronze in the team parallel event at the FIS Alpine world ski championships in Meribel, France.