MERIBEL, France (AP) — American skier Mikaela Shiffrin led the first run of the slalom at the world championships Saturday, two days after winning gold in the giant slalom.
In bright sunshine on the Roc de Fer course, Shiffrin opened the race in 52.54 seconds.
Swiss skier Wendy Holdener trailed by 0.19 seconds in second place. Laurence St-Germain of Canada was 0.61 behind in third.
The rest of the field had more than nine-tenths of a second to make up in the second leg.
Shiffrin, the 2014 Olympic champion, won the world slalom title four times between 2013 and 2019 and took the bronze medal two years ago. She can become the first skier, male or female, to win six medals in one discipline at world championships.
Olympic slalom champion Petra Vlhova of Slovakia was 0.99 behind and defending world champion Katharina Liensberger of Austria finished 1.70 off the pace.
Shiffrin’s teammate Paula Moltzan missed the race after breaking her left hand in Tuesday’s team event, which the United States won. Moltzan finished runner-up to Shiffrin in a race in Austria in December for the first American 1-2 finish in a women’s slalom since 1971.
The course for the first run was set by Mark Mitter, Shiffrin’s assistant coach. Mike Day, Shiffrin’s head coach, split with the skier suddenly four days ago when Shiffrin told him she was going to change up her staff at the end of the season.