Brignone Completes Weekend Double
With the snowfall getting heavier, visibility getting worse and strong winds battering the control gates up and down the Flying Mile course in Tremblant, Federica Brignone (ITA) had only one thing on her mind.
"Full gas all the way," the Italian said after she came from behind to complete the weekend giant slalom double in the Canadian resort on Sunday, finishing ahead of Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI, +0.33s) and Mikaela Shiffrin (USA, +0.39s).
Brignone seemed out of contention after she finished the first run in sixth position, more than a second behind leader Petra Vlhova (SVK), but she mastered the challenging conditions with a brilliant attacking ski in the afternoon session.
"It was really difficult in the second run," Brignone said. "I tried to go all-in, and I knew the conditions were really tough, because we couldn't see, it was snowing, it was windy.
"But normally in these conditions I'm good. My brother said to me before the second run, 'OK, we are ready, we have been training like this for a month now.'"
A day after becoming the oldest woman to win a giant slalom race on tour at age 33, Brignone set another record by becoming the first Italian woman to win 23 World Cup races, breaking a tie with teammate Sofia Goggia (ITA).
That result seemed unlikely after Brignone was one of a number of top skiers, including teammate Marta Bassino (ITA) and local favourite Valerie Grenier (CAN), to be caught out on a tricky series of gates in the lower-middle section of the first run that seemed to put paid to her chances.
"I couldn't believe it today after the first run, I had this big mistake," Brignone said.
But her "all or nothing" approach to the second run gave her the clubhouse lead, and one by one, the world's best giant slalom skiers lost time all the way down the course and were unable to match her.
Gut-Behrami had perhaps the worst of the wind conditions in the second run but fought hard to finish second and retain the lead in the race for the giant slalom crystal globe, five points ahead of Brignone.
Mikaela Shiffrin notched her 41st career World Cup giant slalom podium Sunday, Dec. 3, in the Tremblant giant slalom with a third place finish. Teammate AJ Hurt scored a ninth place finish, her first top ten and career best World Cup result and to round out the tremendous day for the Stifel U.S. Ski Team, Paula Moltzan landed within the top-20 in 15th. Shiffrin's 41st podium now ties her with U.S. legend Ted Ligety for the most World Cup giant slalom podiums.
In Tremblant, in front of a huge Canadian crowd, the conditions were challenging for the skiers with heavy snow accumulating and a variable surface underneath. Despite the conditions, Shiffrin came out of the start gate blazing, with the second fastest run on the first run, a mere 0.05 seconds behind the first run leader Petra Vhlova. Hurt ran bib 37 and ripped down the track, crossing the finish in the 17th position; Moltzan skied into 25th.
On the second run, the snow started to come in making the conditions more of a challenge for all athletes. Moltzan ran first for the U.S. and skied strong and aggressive - she moved up ten spots to 15th place.
“First run was a disappointment but the second run felt a lot better and the course set was better,” said Moltzan, post race. “It's nice to wrap up a good two weeks in North America!”
Hurt was next for the team and she was fast racing into the top position. Hurt sat in the hot seat after her second run, taking it all in. At the end of the day, she not only landed a career best result but a top ten in a stacked World Cup giant slalom.
“I have been feeling good training waiting to put together two runs in a race,” said Hurt. “The confidence from Killington helped and I knew I could do it.”
"I could not see anything," Shiffrin admitted. "But actually it was still fun to ski in a way, sometimes a little bit wild. Tough conditions but a good fight."
Vlhova struggled in the difficult conditions as the last skier on the mountain and finished fifth behind Clara Direz (FRA), who moved up from 13th after the first run to finish fourth and almost make her first World Cup podium in a traditional discipline.
Direz had the second fastest time in the second run, behind only the evergreen Brignone, who has flirted with retirement in recent years but is continuing to show her best form well into her 30s.
"You have to learn every day, you have to learn run after run, and that's the secret to be always at the top," the Italian veteran said.
