Canada’s St-Germain beats Shiffrin to slalom gold
Mikaela Shiffrin didn’t hold on to a first-run lead and was beaten to gold by unheralded Canadian skier Laurence St-Germain in the women’s slalom at the world championships Saturday at Meribel, France.
The American finished 0.57 seconds behind StGermain after the final run to settle for silver.
St-Germain’s victory marked the first gold for Canada in women’s slalom since Anne Heggtveit won at the 1960 Olympics in Squaw Valley.
Lena Duerr of Germany was 0.69 behind and won bronze.
“Today was incredible, just a joy to race,” said Shiffrin, whose medal added to the gold she won in the giant slalom Thursday, two days after her head coach Mike Day split with the skier, and the silver in the super-G last week.
The slalom was Shiffrin’s fourth event in 12 days at the worlds. The American didn’t finish her opening event at the worlds last week when she straddled a gate in the slalom portion of the combined, before winning a medal in each of the next three. ference, the Panthers (28-25-6) are again on the outside of the postseason picture and will end the day at least one point behind the New York Islanders.
Although Florida has still won 12 of 21 and secured points in 14 of 21, the Panthers have also lost 3 of 5 — the sort of skid Florida can hardly afford given its precarious place in the standings with only 23 games remaining.
The win in Washington, star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky said Thursday, was “a complete game.” The loss to the Predators (26-21-6) in Nashville had basically no redeeming qualities for the Panthers, who even lost defenseman Radko Gudas to an injury in the second period.
Florida gave up the first goal of the game in just 2:36 when the Predators capitalized on a failed clear and immediately the odds became long for the Panthers: Florida’s seven come-from-behind victories are still tied for the fewest in the NHL this year.
The Panthers did come back, though, and led 2-1 with 7:51 left in the first period after wingers Nick Cousins and Matthew Tkachuk scored less than five minutes apart, but it just set up Florida for another disappointment: The Panthers have now been on the wrong end of 15 comeback wins, tied for the sixth most in the league.
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 became the first skier, male or female, to win six medals in one discipline at world championships.
Saturday’s race was the last women’s event of the worlds. The men’s slalom finals is Sunday.
ETC.
Soccer: Christian Atsu, the Ghana international forward who played for Premier League clubs Chelsea and Newcastle, died in the earthquake in Turkey. He was 31. Search teams recovered Atsu’s body in the ruins of a luxury 12-story building where he had been living in the city of Antakya, Hatay province, his manager said Saturday . ... In a title race that keeps producing twists, the pendulum swung back Arsenal’s way again after a frustrating day for Manchester City in the English Premier League. Arsenal came from behind twice before scoring two goals in injury time to beat Aston Villa 4-2 in the early kickoff and halt a three-game winless streak in the league . ... Goalkeeper
A“We definitely didn’t start the game as well as we would like,” Tkachuk said. “That’s for sure.”
Bobrovsky, whose .943 save percentage across the prior month was the best in the NHL, lasted just 27:40 and faced only 11 shots before getting benched with Florida down 4-2. His .636 save percentage was tied for his worst single-game mark of the year and was his worst performance since before Thanksgiving.
Florida had its chances, too, and couldn’t capitalize. The Panthers also had nine high-danger chances in the first two periods and went into the second intermission with more expected goals than Nashville. Florida’s only two goals came when Cousins pounced on a loose puck in the slot and when Tkachuk tipped in a point shot
Kasper Schmeichel saved a penalty as Nice earned a goalless home draw against Reims in the French league . ... Bayern Munich’s rocky start to 2023 continues. Borussia Mönchengladbach defeated 10-man Bayern 3-2 to add more intrigue in the Bundesliga title race. Marcus Thuram scored late to seal the win after goals from Lars Stindl and Jonas Hofmann stretched Bayern’s winless run against Gladbach to five games across all competitions . ... Resurgent by star defenseman Brandon Montour.
“Both teams really struggled,” coach Paul Maurice said. “I got Bob out of there because I didn’t think it was going to be goaltending deciding the game for us. He’s played a lot of hockey.”
Once they fell behind, the Panthers never mounted any sort of a comeback and missed another chance to start one when they failed on another power play in the second period.
A little more than a minute after Predators center Colton Sissons pushed Nashville’s lead to 4-2 with a breakway goal, defenseman Marc Staal drew a penalty and gave Florida its first power play of the game. The Panthers fired three shots at Predators goaltender Kevin Lankinen and never beat him — their power-play
AC Milan won at Silvio Berlusconi’s Monza 1-0 and moved back into Serie A’s Champions League qualifying spots. Junior Messias scored the only goal of the derby to help Milan to its third straight victory . ... Stymied by the goalkeeper, Vinícius Júnior turned playmaker to set up a late breakthrough and help Real Madrid win at Osasuna 2-0 in the Spanish league. Vinícius, back from a one-game suspension, led Madrid’s attack while Karim Benzema skid hit 1 for 27 before they finally got one in the third period — and star defenseman Roman Josi scored to stretch Nashville’s lead to 5-2 less than six minutes after the power play ended.
Florida’s only other goal came after it fell behind 6-2, and the Predators dashed any hope at a desperation comeback by scoring an empty-net goal with 5:46 to go.
Now the Panthers return home for 10 straight games in Florida, with little room left for another performance like this. The margin for error is nearly gone for the defending Presidents’ Trophy winners, who are now once again a clear underdog just to make the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.
David Wilson: 305-376-3406, @DBWilson2
rested ahead of Tuesday’s game at Liverpool in the Champions League round of 16.
NFL: Eric Bieniemy
has agreed to be the Washington Commanders’ offensive coordinator and assistant head coach. Bieniemy, a two-time Super Bowl-winning assistant with Kansas City, now gets the chance to show what he can do without Andy Reid
and Patrick Mahomes.
Tennis: Top-ranked Iga Swiatek successfully defended her Qatar Open title
AAafter beating No. 4-ranked
Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-0 in the final. Swiatek broke Pegula for 2-0 and 4-2 but both times immediately lost her own serve. Swiatek dropped only five sets all week en route to her 12th career title . ... Top-seeded
Carlos Alcaraz reached his first final since his milestone U.S. Open triumph at the Argentina Open. Alcaraz beat Spanish countryman Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals. In Sunday’s final, the world No. 2 will face No. 12 Cameron Norrie, who beat Juan Pablo Varillas 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
College football: Notre Dame promoted tight ends coach Gerard Parker, replacing Tommy Rees, the former Notre Dame quarterback who left this month to become offensive coordinator at Alabama, to offensive coordinator as head coach Marcus Freeman rebuilds his staff.
Sailing: Quentin Delapierre steered the French team to three straight wins in gusty, shifting winds to take a six-point lead over
Jimmy Spithill’s U.S. team before the weather conditions deteriorated on Day 1 of the Australia Sail Grand Prix.
AA