Marta Bassino. GEPA pictures.

MERIBEL, France — Marta Bassino beat Mikaela Shiffrin to win the women’s super-G on Wednesday and give Italy its second gold medal at the Alpine skiing world championships, with her American rival settling for silver.

It was another blue sky day in Meribel. Notably, the course was 15 seconds longer than the alpine combined super-G. Also, the course was a challenge that combined high-speed gliding, significant sweeping turns and terrain. For the second women’s race in a row, an Italian won. Today it was Marta Bassino who stood on the top step.

Bassino was the first of the prerace favorites to ski and the best. She is one of the smaller competitors, but once she completed the flatter top sector, her committed skiing was unmatched. The GS star skied the final two sectors better than anyone and, by locking her skis into the arc, maintained more speed through the finish than her challengers.

“I’m speechless, it’s my first win in super-G, and here at the world championships, it is something I have to realize,” Bassino said. “Today I just did a great last part because I lost a lot of time in the first part. I was really suffering watching all the other girls coming down. I’m really happy and confident in myself, it’s really a great result for me.”

Bassino earned her second gold after winning the parallel event at her home worlds two years ago. She became the second Italian skier to win the women’s super-G world title, after Isolde Kostner won back-to-back golds in the mid-1990s.

Bassino has yet to win a super-G on the World Cup circuit but finished third in two January races and is now World Champion.

Shiffrin said she expected Bassino to do well after seeing her shortly before the race.

“I could see her in the start, she looked in the right zone,” Shiffrin said. “I could see it she has the flow and I got like: now I have to focus on myself and stop looking at Marta.”

American Mikaela Shiffrin skied immediately after Bassino and had the winner’s attention during her entire run. Mainly due to a great start, Shiffrin was (-0.15) ahead of Bassino at the final split. She earned her 12th career World Championship podium by finishing in second place. Today her skiing was tremendous, but Bassino was willing to take a higher level of risk and Shiffrin finished the day (+0.11) behind the winner.

“I’m so happy with my run, and emotional, because I don’t really feel like I should be winning a medal in super-G right now. There are so many women so strong and so fast,” said Shiffrin. “There was one moment where I thought I lost everything but then I could keep it rolling until the finish.”

The silver is Shiffrin’s 12th medal in 15 career world championship races and came two days after the American was heading for a possible medal in the combined event before straddling the third-to-last gate in the combined slalom. Federica Brignone won that race.

“I felt like I learned from the combined that I have to be much more aggressive with my skiing and with my tactics,” said Shiffrin, who was sixth in Monday’s super-G run. “Also, this hill is difficult and it deserves respect for the terrain. You have to push the limit but if you go over the limit, it’s even worse. So I was trying to be really strong, really aggressive and just also a little bit smart.”

For the third World Championship race in a row, third place went to an Austrian. Today it was Cornelia Huetter. Like Shiffrin, she had the lead over Bassino with one sector to ski. Also, like Shffrrin, she lost time in the final turns and ended the day (+0.33) behind the Italian Bassino.

Bassino’s teammate Sofia Goggia, the Olympic downhill champion, finished 0.76 behind in 11th. Goggia is a favorite to make it three golds from three races for the Italian women’s team in Saturday’s downhill.

“Great, now the pressure is on me,” Goggia said. “First Fede, then Marta and, and, and let’s see.”

Joining Huetter on the third step of the podium is Norway’s Kajsa Vickhoff Lie. Lie was the first of the podium winners to ski and if it weren’t for mistakes towards the end of the course, she would have likely stood on the top step. She earned her first career World Championship podium and the first 2023 Norwegian podium of the championships.

American racer Tricia Mangan skied through a gate and had a nasty crash that broke her right ski, but she appeared not to be seriously hurt.

Women’s super-G results and analysis of the fastest three and North Americans

analysis of the fastest three and North Americans

The Associated Press contributed to this report.