Canada's Ali Nullmeyer season-best 9th in women's slalom at World Cup finals

Mikaela Shiffrin smoothly navigated a bumpy course to easily win the women's slalom Thursday at the World Cup finals in Sun Valley, Idaho.

The first-run leader, Shiffrin found another burst to finish in a combined time of one minute 45.92 seconds and beat Lena Duerr of Germany by 1.13 seconds. Andreja Slokar of Slovenia took third.

Toronto's Ali Nullmeyer placed a season-best ninth in 1:48.52, 2.6 seconds behind Shiffrin. Nullmeyer's previous best this campaign was 11th on Feb. 23 at the Sestriere ski resort in Turin, Italy. Her teammate, Laurence St-Germain of Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que., finished 20th on Thursday.

Shiffrin glided through the course at Sun Valley with a large crowd cheering her through every gate. The American ski racing standout closed out the World Cup slalom season the same way she started it — with a win.

WATCH | Nullmeyer places inside top 10 in Sun Valley, Idaho:

Toronto's Ali Nullmeyer ends Alpine season with top-10 World Cup slalom finish

It was an injury-marred season for Shiffrin, who competed in only the slalom at finals. The 30-year-old Shiffrin has missed four slalom races this season and that's taken her out of retaining her title in the discipline. She still finished in fourth place in the slalom standings.

Croatian ski racer Zrinka Ljutic was 10th in Thursday's race and captured the season-long slalom title race over Katharina Liensberger of Austria. The 21-year-old Ljutic captured last season's "rising star" award and is showing that talent ahead of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics. Camille Rast of Switzerland slipped to third in the overall slalom standings.

For Shiffrin, a painful season drew to a close. She's worked her way back from a serious giant slalom crash in Killington,