Mikaela Shiffrin wins World Cup slalom for 98th-career victory, Canada's St-Germain 10th

American ski star Mikaela Shiffrin dominated the first women's World Cup slalom of the season Saturday in Finland for her record-extending 98th career win.

Shiffrin built on a big first-run lead with an aggressive yet controlled second run down the Levi Black course to beat 2021 slalom world champion Katharina Liensberger of Austria by 0.79 seconds.

Lena Duerr of Germany dropped from second to third, 0.83 behind Shiffrin, and was the last skier to finish less than a second off the lead.

Laurence St-Germain, of Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que., finished 2.25 seconds back of Shiffrin to land in 10th place.

"Amazing way to start the slalom season, I'm super happy," Shiffrin said.

The two-time Olympic champion also led the season-opening giant slalom in Austria three weeks ago, but squandered that advantage in the second run to finish fifth.

On Saturday, Shiffrin initially extended her lead to a massive 1.25 seconds early in her final run before losing a few tenths.

"I was getting twisted sometimes, but then keep fighting. Not the perfect tempo, but enough really good turns that it works really well. In the end, a really solid run in conditions not so easy," she said.

Shiffrin won both slaloms at the end of last season after her return from a knee injury following a downhill crash in January, clinching her eighth World Cup season title in the discipline.

She has now won 61 slaloms and 98 races overall — both are World Cup records across genders.

Shiffrin has triumphed a record eight times in the traditional season-opening slalom in Finnish Lapland, where the winner is given a reindeer as a prize.

After the first run, Shiffrin said she "felt good."

"I felt strong and solid and good energy. Little bit nervous, like first race,