World champion Brignone storms to Sestriere giant slalom / Photo: © AFP
World champion Brignone storms to Sestriere giant slalom
Federica Brignone stormed to victory in Friday's giant slalom in Sestriere on her return to action as the newly-crowned world champion, as Mikaela Shiffrin flopped in her bid for a 100th World Cup win.
Fresh from winning giant slalom gold and super-G silver in Saalbach, Brignone clocked a combined time of two minutes and 12.69 seconds, beating first run leader Alice Robinson by 0.40sec.
The Italian was struggling with flu but overcame Robinson with a sensational second run which took her ahead of the New Zealander and extended her lead over Lara Gut-Behrami at the top of the overall World Cup standings to 170 points.
Reigning World Cup champion Gut-Behrami did not finish her first run and was not among the 30 skiers contesting the afternoon showdown.
Norway's Thea Louise Stjernesund completed the podium in the Italian Alps, a whopping 1.57sec behind Brignone who claimed her 33rd World Cup win in front of delighted home support.
"It's been a difficult period, I gave everything I could to make sure I was at 100 percent for today. I don't think I've ever been forced to do nothing at home for six days," said Brignone.
"But I knew I was, by concentrating on the two runs, capable of getting a good result... After the worlds I felt obliged to perform well in front of an Italian crowd."
American star Shiffrin will have to wait a bit longer for her 100th win as she continues her comeback from injury. Two tentative runs left her 4.65sec behind Brignone.
Shiffrin was contesting her first giant slalom since crashing out at Killington in November, an accident which left her sidelined for two months with an abdominal puncture wound that required surgery.
The 29-year-old did win the combined team gold at the worlds but was clearly unhappy at her performance and physical condition after finishing in 25th position.
"For the rest of the season I feel my goal is fighting for some points so I can try to stay in the top 30 in GS (giant slalom), which is a very different position from the last many years when I fighting for podiums. That's not where I am right now and that's OK," said Shiffrin.
"My maximum potential right now is to collect points and today was some points... The big step today is that I pushed out of the gate, and that's a step from not racing at all.
"But when you’re usually in the position to be fighting for top 10s, top fives, podiums, it doesn't feel like such a big step as it actually is."
Sestriere hosts another giant slalom on Saturday before a slalom on Sunday.
I.Paterson--TNT
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