Alpine skiing-Rast wins slalom gold as Shiffrin misses out
SAALBACH, Austria : Camille Rast won slalom gold in a Swiss one-two with Wendy Holdener on Saturday as American Mikaela Shiffrin missed out on a record 16th career medal at the Alpine Skiing World Championships.
Austria's Katharina Liensberger took the bronze on home snow in the last women's race of the 13-day championships in Saalbach.
Shiffrin had been third after the first run but dropped back to finish fifth overall behind U.S. teammate Paula Moltzan in fourth.
"Both runs were really different and really challenging and I just tried to have fun," said Rast, who was fastest from Liensberger after the first leg with Holdener fourth, after winning by 0.46 of a second.
Holdener was fastest of all down the second run, with Moltzan next on the timesheets, to move into the medal positions.
"I was tired, especially after the first two long weeks and after the giant slalom, so I took a rest day yesterday to somehow find the joy and the motivation to give full gas today and I'm happy it worked out," said Holdener.
Shiffrin, who took a record-equalling 15th medal when she and downhill champion Breezy Johnson won the new women's team combined event on Tuesday, was only the 12th quickest in the deciding run.
Saturday was the first time the world's most successful skier had failed to medal in slalom in seven championships. She won four golds in a row between 2013-19, silver in 2023 and bronze in 2021.
Despite the miss, she said her race had been a "really good step forward" in her return to the piste from a puncture wound in her left abdomen suffered in a giant slalom crash in Killington, Vermont.
"I think there are some obvious challenges that I face to keep improving in my skiing and maybe to get to the point where I can be fighting for podiums for the end of the season," she told Eurosport.
"It's a step-by-step process and it's going to continue to take work.
"Eight weeks ago I had surgery and six weeks ago I was still in bed with a drainage tube. It's a funny place to be, to be recovering and returning to ski racing... in the end I'm really grateful to be here."
Shiffrin said the course setting had been great and the conditions amazing.
"It's a full length course and it's these pieces that I just need to keep working on, but this is the best training I can have for the next races," she said.
Shiffrin is one win away from a record-extending 100th World Cup triumph and could still achieve that this season with a number of races before next month's World Cup finals in Sun Valley, Idaho.
The American, who skipped the giant slalom in Saalbach due to 'some mental obstacles', said she planned to compete in Sestriere, Italy, next week.
