Brignone Wins Again In Sestriere
The feast or famine Giant Slalom season of Federica Brignone (ITA/Rossignol) is no more. Now, the Italian star is feasting every time she races.
Brignone completed the Sestriere Giant Slalom double on Saturday, coming from fourth after the first run to again outclass the field, triumphing ahead of Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI/Head, +0.77s) and Alice Robinson (NZL/Salomon, +0.79s).
The Italian veteran started the season with two wins and three DNFs in her first five Giant Slalom contests, but has now won three GS races in 10 days, including the world championships gold medal last week in Saalbach.
"Today was just amazing, it was an incredible feeling," said Brignone. "This season I fell three times in six GS and I really wanted for myself to give my best."
Following her world championships triumph, Brignone spent the week at home with the flu before getting up off her sick bed to win Friday's Giant Slalom, and then had enough left in the tank to back it up on Saturday.
"Today I had more energy," she admitted. "My body and my mind were more ready than yesterday. — I felt good actually. I could do more warmup this morning, and then I recovered in between the runs." The Rossignol star gave herself more work to do on Saturday than in recent races after being outside the podium places following the first run. "In the first run, I didn't feel so good, so smooth as I can ski," she said, despite being only 0.12 seconds behind Robinson's lead in a tightly-packed leaderboard.
In the second run, those ahead of her faltered while Brignone stepped it up a gear to record the fastest time, with only Sofia Goggia (ITA/Atomic) within seven-tenths of a second, as the speed star moved up 13 places to finish fourth.
"I tried everything in the second run," Brignone said of her attacking mindset. "We were all close and the visibility was gone for us, the last ones, so it was not really easy."
Already the oldest woman to win a World Cup race at age 34, Brignone sets a new record every time she climbs to the top step of the podium.
On Saturday, she created more history by setting a new personal best with her seventh win in all disciplines this season, and tying Tessa Worley (FRA) and Annemarie Moser-Pröll (AUT) in equal third place on the women's all-time list with her 16th World Cup Giant Slalom victory.
Seeking some history of her own in trying to become the first woman to win 10 or more World Cup races in three disciplines, Gut-Behrami fell short, but matched her best Giant Slalom result of the season by finishing second.
After she failed to finish the first run of Friday's race, it was a welcome return to form for the Swiss star, who stood on the podium for the 97th time at World Cup level.
"I know that when you try to be fast, sometimes it happens what happened yesterday," Gut-Behrami said of clattering a control gate and skiing out with the finish line in sight on Friday. "I just tried to forget everything and focus on skiing."
Even though the Head star has not been able to match the heights of her three-Globe season of a year ago, she continues to fight for results.
"It's not the easiest season for me this year," Gut-Behrami admitted. "I just tried to stop thinking, 'Well, I'm missing what I could do better,' and just focusing on what I can do, and today was a good race."
On that last point, Robinson might not agree, as she led after the first run for the second day in a row but couldn't complete the victory after a mistake early in the second run scrubbed off all her speed.
"I wanted a bit more today," the New Zealander admitted. "I just tried to push a little bit too hard out of the gate and made that mistake. It probably happened at the worst place because I had no speed for the flats."
While the error put paid to her chances of victory, Robinson hung in and pushed Goggia off the podium, reaching the top three herself for the sixth time in seven World Cup Giant Slalom races this season.
"I thought I skied the bottom part well," she said. "I'm really happy with how far the consistency's come, so I'm glad."
Robinson's sixth Giant Slalom podium in a row at World Cup or world championship level is a testament to that consistency, something that must seem a long way off for the returning Mikaela Shiffrin (USA/Atomic).
The USA star was again well below her best as she eases back into Giant Slalom skiing following her puncture wound injury, finishing her first run 2.5 seconds behind Robinson in 33rd place, and thus failing to qualify for the second run.
It is the first time Shiffrin has completed the first run of a World Cup race and not qualified for the second run since 27 October 2012 in the Sölden Giant Slalom, when she finished 31st as a 17-year-old.
