Brignone Wins Tremblant GS
After letting nerves get the better of her as the last skier on the mountain in the season-opening race in Sölden five weeks ago, Federica Brignone (ITA) wasn't about to make the same mistake again.
Instead, the 33-year-old Italian veteran used all her experience to become the oldest winner of a women's World Cup giant slalom race by triumphing in the Canadian resort of Tremblant on Saturday.
Brignone mastered foggy conditions in the first run to take the half-way lead and this time she held her nerve in the second run to hold off Petra Vlhova (SVK, +0.21s) and Mikaela Shiffrin (USA, +0.29s).
"I'm really excited, it was really, really an amazing race," said Brignone, who admitted her inability to go on with the job in Sölden, where she finished second to Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI), was on her mind between runs in Tremblant.
"In Sölden actually it was totally a surprise to be so far ahead in the first run and I completed blocked myself," Brignone said.
"Before the second run I couldn't even move and warm up, I wanted to puke, I felt really bad and my legs were not moving.
"Today I felt better. I wanted just to concentrate on my skiing and I did it and that's so great."
In finishing off the victory, Brignone won her 22nd World Cup race to equal teammate Sofia Goggia (ITA) for the all-time lead among Italian women and make up for a disappointing sixth position in the Killington giant slalom last Saturday.
"I came here after the Killington weekend and there I didn't have great sensations and I just wanted to come here and just ski the way I want and the way I know," Brignone said.
By doing just that, Brignone broke a 24-year-old record as the most senior women's World Cup giant slalom winner, surpassing Anita Wachter (AUT), who was 32 when she triumphed in Lienz in 1999.
"I'm the oldest, right?" Brignone laughed.
Her younger rivals Vlhova and Shiffrin, both 28, skied the two fastest second runs of the field to move up two places each and reach the podium at the expense of Sara Hector (SWE, fourth) and Gut-Behrami (fifth).
The Canadian fans crowded the stands of the Tremblant venue, a new World Cup stop, as the world’s best giant slalom women skiers raced down the terrain-packed hill. Shiffrin ran third, taking the fifth spot after the first run with a clean run. Moltzan ran 14th first run with a few bobbles, and sat in 11th position after run one.
“It was quite nice to ski,” said Shiffrin after the first run. “It looks straightforward but there is actually a lot of terrain. I feel like we have not skied a hill like this before so it's nice to learn it.”
On the second run, the roar of the Tremblant crowd could be heard from the start. The terrain and a tricky course set tripped up quite a few racers. Moltzan skied well again with a few mistakes that ended up costing her overall time, finishing in 13th place.
“My skiing was medium today," said Moltzan. "I had a few mistakes in the first and second run. The snow is challenging but the hill is not, so those small mistakes made for a tough day. But I am excited to get back out here tomorrow.”
Shiffrin was next for the Stifel U.S. Ski Team out of the start and she knifed the course, gaining momentum and speed as she approached the finish line. Shiffrin ultimately ended up in third place, her 142nd World Cup podium. Italian skier Federica Brignone won the race with Slovakia's Petra Vlhova in second place.
“It was a wonderful day. I started off feeling unsure about the terrain and hill, but on the second run I really tried to push,” said Shiffrin. “You really can't make a mistake, so good stuff from my giant slalom skiing. I will have more confidence tomorrow.”
Vlhova finished runner-up for her second podium in three giant slalom races this season, while Shiffrin's third place was her 142nd podium in just 255 World Cup starts over her extraordinary career.
Both stars admitted to testing out the rolling terrain of the hill on the first run during Tremblant's first women's World Cup race in 40 years, before picking up the pace in the second run.
"The first run I was so-so because I didn't know the slope and all the rolls so it was a little bit difficult to understand everything," Vlhova said. "But then I realised that I like this kind of condition, like spring snow, and that I know I can be really fast."
Shiffrin, who moved up from fifth to third with a brilliant second run, concurred.
"I started off feeling very unsure about how the hill would feel, how the terrain would move," Shiffrin said. "I got a little bit more security in my feeling after the first run and in the second run I really tried to push."
As for tomorrow's second giant slalom race on what will now be a slightly more familiar course, the 90-time World Cup winner has a simple plan: "let it fly," Shiffrin said.
