Laurence St-Germain was in the mix in the first run of the Alpine Ski World Cup slalom in Killington, Vermont, when she was provisionally tied for eighth. However, things got complicated for her on the second descent on Sunday, and the Quebecer ranked 14th (2.46 s).
The crowd’s favorite, American Mikaela Shiffrin, was imperial in winning both runs, which allowed her to sign the 90th victory of her career on the circuit and her 55th in slalom. The Slovakian Petra Vlhova (0.33) and the Swiss Wendy Holdener (1.37s) accompanied her on the podium.
“I’m a little disappointed with my day. Happy with my first run where I was in a good position to move up the rankings, but unfortunately, I made mistakes in the second run, admitted St-Germain. Finishing a bad day in 14th place is still not that bad and I know where to improve. It will be better next times. »
The world champion in the specialty finished two hundredths of a second behind her compatriot Ali Nullmeyer, 13th of the day. The other Quebecer who put on a bib on Sunday, Justine Lamontagne, did not complete the first round. She went off the slope after falling on the inside ski in a turn halfway through the race.
St-Germain was unbalanced forward, in the second set, entering the wall, and then took time to regain its rhythm.
“I made a bad decision and I didn’t think it [the course] would turn around this much. I was low [in my line] and I had to brake a little to get through the gate, which slowed me down. »
In catch-up mode afterwards, the athlete from Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges then dropped one of her poles, which meant that she lost a precious opportunity to gain a few fractions of a second.
“There were two figures in a row where it always hits a little harder and I lost my stick again. It’s in the last ten gates that you can gain speed and these are free points for the others if you don’t attack,” continued the 29-year-old athlete by videoconference. “It’s pretty clear where I wasted time. »
Earlier this season, St-Germain also lost a stick in her second race in Finland where she placed seventh.
“I want to get my consistency back and make a little less mistakes. […] These are errors in reading the course, many on my external benchmarks. [My reading], I did really well in training last week and I really improved. I succeeded in sections today and now it needs to become a little more natural,” she concluded.