Mikaela Shiffrin goes into the second run of the World Cup slalom with a clear lead – and makes too many mistakes. The ski superstar falls back to second place, gold sensationally goes to a Canadian. Lena Dürr takes bronze for the German alpine team.
Ski racer Lena Dürr won the medal she had hoped for in the slalom at the World Championships in Méribel, France. The 31-year-old, who was still an ungrateful fourth at the Olympics, took bronze in the sensational victory of Canadian Laurence St-Germain. For the DSV athlete it was the first individual medal of her career after three medals with the team. “I don’t believe it yet, I saw myself as fourth again. It all comes back somehow. I’m just happy that I can be so happy here now,” said Dürr on ARD.
St-Germain triumphed by 0.57 seconds ahead of skiing queen Mikaela Shiffrin, who missed an advantage of almost a second in the second heat. Dürr was 0.69 seconds behind. She also benefited from the off of Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener, second after heat one. St-Germain had never finished better than sixth in her career. “Brilliant world champion – stories like this are only written at the World Cup,” Dürr said of the Canadian’s success. She just found her coup “incredible”.
Dürr thus lived up to the high expectations. After four podium places since Christmas and her success at the dress rehearsal in Spindlermühle, Czech Republic, where she defeated Shiffrin, she was one of the medal contenders. Dürr was fourth after the first run and was struggling with her drive. In the final, he improved by one place, even though it was very close at the finish. “Now the hundredth was on my side,” said Dürr, who ended up just 0.02 seconds ahead of Norway’s Mina Fürst Holtmann.
For the German Ski Association (DSV) it was the first World Championship medal in the women’s slalom since Maria Höfl-Riesch won 2009 in Val d’Isère and the second in the current title fights after Alexander Schmid’s gold in the parallel competition last Wednesday. For Shiffrin, who had already won the giant slalom in Méribel, it was the 14th World Cup medal.
