Mikaela Shiffrin won the women’s combined to set an American record with her sixth world championship title.
It also marked Shiffrin’s record-breaking ninth overall medal in world championships, surpassing a record she had shared with compatriot Lindsey Vonn.
Shiffrin has four golds in slalom and one in super-G from previous worlds.
The 25-year-old from Vail, Colorado, ranked third after the super-G portion but was fastest in the slalom leg to beat Slovaian rival Petra Vlhova by 0.86 seconds. Olympic champion Michelle Gisin of Switzerland finished 0.89 behind for bronze at Cortina d’Ampezzo, where the 2026 Winter Olympics will be staged.
Two of Shiffrin’s main competitors failed to complete their slalom runs.
First-run leader Federica Brignone straddled the third gate as Italy keeps waiting for its first medal at this year’s worlds after five events. Defending champion Wendy Holdener of Switzerland also skied out early in her run.
Shiffrin, who claimed the bronze medal in Thursday’s super-G, was elated after winning her first ever combined gold medal in the world championships.
“I am happy we decided to put the combined event in the plans for this world champs,” she told Eurosport in a flash interview in the finish area.
“It was a really nice day, beautiful weather and really great tracks on both events. It’s sometimes intimidating to go on that surface, it’s like going into battle.
“You have to get yourself psyched up and give your very best skiing to be fast and even get to the finish.”
Shiffrin has now won Olympic or world titles in four of the five traditional alpine skiing events – super-G, giant slalom, slalom and combined – not including a pair of downhill wins on the World Cup circuit.
She has competed at seven Olympics or world championships and earned at least one gold medal at every one. Her sixth world championship gold medal breaks the previous American record of five which she shared with the recently retired Ted Ligety.
Later on Monday, the men will complete their combined event, with Canadian James Crawford the shock leader ahead of Frenchman Alexis Pinturault and Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr after the super-G leg.
Krichmayr is bidding for his third gold medal of the championships after clinching the super-G and downhill.