SESTRIERE, Italy (AP) — Despite a recent illness, Federica Brignone clinched a remarkable win in the first World Cup giant slalom following her gold medal triumph at the Alpine skiing world championships on Friday. Meanwhile, Mikaela Shiffrin finished 25th in her first competition in the discipline in nearly 12 weeks. Brignone outpaced runner-up Alice Robinson of New Zealand by 0.40 seconds, solidifying her lead in the discipline standings. Shiffrin, who faced a 2.89-second gap in 18th place after the initial run, ended 4.65 seconds behind the winner. The American hadn’t competed in giant slalom since sustaining injuries in a crash in November. Brignone and Robinson dominated the event, with Thea Louise Stjernesund of Norway finishing third. Unfortunately, defending overall champion Lara Gut-Behrami skied out during her first run. Shiffrin, who aims to secure points to maintain her position in the top 30, expressed contentment with her progress in the race.
After injuring her left knee in a downhill crash in January 2024, she made the decision to scale back her racing schedule for the remainder of the 2023-24 season, focusing solely on competing in slalom events. Earlier in the season, she had an impressive start by finishing fifth in the season-opening Giant Slalom (GS) held in Austria in October before the unfortunate incident occurred during the Killington race.
Throughout her career, Shiffrin has set a remarkable record by winning a total of 22 giant slalom races, the most by any female skier. She also claimed the season discipline title in both 2019 and 2023, showcasing her consistency and dominance in the sport.
The recent race on Friday served as a replacement for a canceled GS event that was originally scheduled to take place in Tremblant, Quebec, back in December. Looking ahead, another GS competition is set to be held on Saturday, followed by a slalom race the following day as part of the ongoing Alpine Skiing season.
