Brignone Takes Lienz GS Victory

Federica Brignone won the giant slalom race at the 2017 World Cup Finals in Aspen last March but had yet to stand on a podium in the 2017/18 season until Lienz. Sitting in fourth after the first run of GS at the Austrian venue, the Italian rocketed through the shadows to claim her first victory in the final race of the calendar year. 

An incredibly tight podium saw Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg finish in second place at only 0.04 seconds back and American Mikaela Shiffrin in third at 0.08 seconds from the lead. With 80 race points under her belt to Shiffrin's 60, Rebensburg reclaimed the lead in the hotly contested GS standings by a slim 13 points. Tessa Worley, who finished fourth on the day, now sits third in the standings at a reachable 48 points from Rebensburg.

In finishing third, Shiffin picked up her ninth podium result of the season and maintained her overall World Cup lead over Rebensburg. However, with her second-place finish, Rebensburg moved into the overall World Cup giant slalom lead by 13 points over Shiffrin.

The ladies' tour moves on to Oslo, Norway, for the New Year's Day city event, then to the slalom at Zagreb, a GS and slalom at Kranjska Gora, and the night slalom in Flachau during the technical block that kicks off 2018.  

In one of the tightest finishes on the FIS Ski World Cup circuit this season, Italy’s Federica Brignone edged out Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg and Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.) by just 0.08 seconds to win Friday’s giant slalom in Lienz, Austria.

Up next, the women compete in a city event in Oslo, Norway on New Year’s