Italian skier Brignone leads GS at worlds after first run as defending champ Shiffrin skips race
SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria (AP) — Italian skier Federica Brignone posted the fastest time in the opening run of the women's giant slalom at the Alpine world championships on Thursday.
Brignone built a big lead of 0.67 seconds over Alice Robinson of New Zealand.
Paula Moltzan stood third and the American had 1.24 to make up in the second run.
Defending champion Mikaela Shiffrin sat out the event as she said she was not ready yet to race giant slalom following a crash in November.
Shiffrin paired with downhiller Breezy Johnson and skied the slalom portion to win the team combined event at the worlds on Tuesday.
Shiffrin won the world title in 2023 and has been on the podium in GS at every worlds since 2017.
'What I have been struggling with this past couple of weeks with GS is, when we bring in normal or, like, real conditions, a little bit harder snow, I don't even know that I'm scared,' Shiffrin said. 'I just can't do the movements that you need to do to make a fast GS turn.'
The American holder of a record 99 World Cup wins suffered a deep puncture wound when she fell in a GS on Nov. 30 in Killington, Vermont, causing severe trauma to her oblique muscles, and underwent surgery in December.
On Thursday, Lara Gut-Behrami, the Olympic bronze medalist in GS from Switzerland, was 1.40 behind on a course set by her coach and father, Pauli Gut.
Olympic champion Sara Hector was three-hundredths of a second further back in fifth.
Brignone gained the most time with a flawless run on the lower part of the Schneekristall course.
'It's good for me. In the second run the course will not be perfect, but I have a lot of time advantage,' Brignone told Austrian TV. 'I tried everything and made a good rhythm.'
Brignone won GS silver in 2011 and 2023 and can become the first Italian winner of the event since Deborah Compagnoni won back-to-back titles in 1996-97.
Her Italian teammates Sofia Goggia and Marta Bassino both failed to finish their runs.
At 34 years, 7 months, Brignone can become the oldest female medalist at the worlds, overtaking Lindsey Vonn, who was four months younger when she won downhill bronze in 2019.
Vonn, who came out of retirement after nearly six years at age 40 this season with a new titanium knee, doesn't race in giant slalom anymore.
Standings were provisional as lower-ranked skiers were still racing.
___
AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
The Associated Press
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