FIS Alpine Skiing World Championships, giant slalom. American gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin is pictured in Méribel on February 16, 2023.
Méribel (France) – American Mikaela Shiffrin is world champion in giant slalom for the first time. Despite a significant mistake at the end of the second round in Méribel, she maintained the leading position from the first heat and beat Italy's Federica Brignone by 12 hundredths. In total, she won her seventh world title and thirteenth medal from the world championships. Adriana Jelínková, the only Czech skier at the start, lost exactly five seconds to her and took 29th place.
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Photo gallery: 2023 World Championships in downhill skiing
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Olympic giant slalom champion Shiffrin won five out of eight races in this discipline this SP season and was the biggest favorite. She confirmed it in the first lap and increased her lead to more than six tenths at the start of the second. But then she gradually lost her lead and in the end she even drove off the optimal trail into deeper snow, but despite the hesitation, twelve hundredths decided in her favor at the finish line.
After the silver in the super giant slalom, Shiffrin has her second medal from the championship in France. With her seventh title, she equaled the other four skiers who have the same record. Only the record holder Christl Cranz from Germany, who has twelve gold world medals, is ahead of them. Shiffrin will aim for her eighth title in Saturday's slalom.
She got today's one a day after announcing her split with longtime coach Mike Day. “It's unbelievable. I was terribly nervous, I couldn't believe it,” an emotional Shiffrin recounted in the finish area. She had to cope with the situation when home Tessa Worley dropped out just before her while attacking for the medal. The second woman in the opening round was close to the early lead but fell at the bottom, leaving the boisterous French crowd suddenly quiet.
Thanks to this, Brignone moved to second place, who won her second medal at the championship after her triumph in the combined event. Norway's Ragnhild Mowinckelová won the bronze, leaving defending champion Lara Gutová-Behramiova from Switzerland nine hundredths behind.
Jelínková was a tenth behind the top 30 in the first round, which would have secured her a starting position at the beginning of the second wheels. She took 33rd place and rode only when the fight for the medals was decided. She also managed the second round and moved up four places. For the twenty-seven-year-old competitor, who represented the Netherlands until last season, this is the best result in the giant slalom at the World Cup.
The World Cup in downhill skiing in Méribel:
Women – giant slalom:
1. Shiffrin (USA) 2:07.13 (1:02.54+1:04.59), 2. Brignone (It.) -0.12 (1:02.85+1:04.40), 3. Mowinckelová (Nor.) -0.22 (1:03.25+1:04.10), 4. Gutová-Behramiová (Switzerland) -0.31 (1:03.18+1:04.26), 5. Bassinová (It.) -0.80 (1:04.00+1:03.93), 6. Holtmannová (Nor.) -0.92 (1:03.36+1:04.69), …29. Jelínková (ČR) -5.00 (1:05.80+1:06.33).
