MERIBEL, France – The world’s number one was the first to ski and she delivered excellence. Mikaela Shiffrin will take a (-0.19) advantage into the second run ahead of Switzerland’s Wendy Holdender.

Shiffrin skied with her typical precision and confidence and took advantage of her early start number to produce the fastest run. She skied the fastest times in three of the four timing sectors. Notably, Holdener also delivered excellence and looked like she was the only skier up to the Shiffrin challenge. The afternoon run appears to offer a compelling battle for the world championship. The surprise of the morning came from Canada’s Laurence St-Germain. Skiing with bib 18, she used two outstanding middle sectors to finish the morning in third (+0.61)

The rest of the field will have more than nine-tenths of a second to make up in the second run.

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.

The final women’s race of the 2023 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships took place under blue skies and on perfect snow. However, the Roc de Fer course was in direct sunlight with warm temperatures and the snow experienced minor disintegration. The course was set by Shiffrin’s coach and offered an appropriate test for determining a world champion.

Saturday’s slalom is the last women’s event of the world championships.

Shiffrin won the world slalom title four times between 2013 and 2019 and took the bronze medal two years ago in Cortina. She can become the first male or female skier to win six medals in one discipline at world championships.

Other North Americans

The best of the other North Americans are Canada’s Amelia Smart, 17th (+1.90), and Ali Nullmeyer, 18th (+1.93). Also, USA’s bib 37 Katie Hensien delivered a strong effort and earned a preferred start position for the second run. Hensien produced the 24th fastest time (+2.29) and will start 7th in the afternoon. USA’s Ava Sunshine was called in to replace the injured Paula Moltzan attacked from start to finish but failed to finish inside the top 30. She will, however, get a second run after the first thirty have completed the race.

Unfortunately, USA’s Nina O’Brien did not finish.

First Run top 30 results and Analysis of the fastest three and other top 30 North Americans

Analysis of the fastest four and other top 30 North Americans

The Associated Press and USST contributed to this report.