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Austrian skier Julia Scheib is heading into the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics as the racer to beat in giant slalom.
Defending overall World Cup champion Federica Brignone is back, though, after a nine-month injury layoff.
Mikaela Shiffrin, meanwhile, keeps regaining ground in giant slalom.
Scheib claimed her fourth giant slalom victory of the season Tuesday, moving up from third after the opening run to finish in two minutes 19.85 seconds, 0.37 ahead of Camille Rast (2:20.22) and 0.46 ahead of defending Olympic champion Sara Hector (2:20.31), who led after the first run at the Kronplatz resort.
Shiffrin placed fourth in 2:20.71 and Brignone was sixth (2:21.08), 1.23 back.
“It was really tough with all of the emotions I had today, so I was really happy to see the green light,” Brignone said. “It’s been nine difficult, tough months, so I’m proud of myself. It was all new again for me in terms of emotions. I’m really happy that I raced today. If I had waited for the Olympics to return it might have all been too much.”
Val Grenier, of St-Isidore, Ont., was the top Canadian in ninth place (2:22.09) of 27 finishers, 2.24 behind Scheib, while Britt Richardson of Canmore, Alta., finished 11th (2:22.50).
Val Grenier of St. Isidore, Ont., finished 9th in Tuesday’s World Cup giant slalom race, with a time of 2:22.09, in South Tyrol, Italy.
Justine Lamontagne of St-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que., was 45th in the first run in 1:19.16 and didn’t advance. Teammates Arianne Forget (Prevost, Que.) and Cassidy Gray (Panorama, B.C.) didn’t finish the opening run.
The 27-year-old Scheib had never won a World Cup race before this season but now she leads the discipline standings with a comfortable margin of 139 points ahead of Rast.
Shiffrin, the American winner of a record 107 World Cup races, has not finished on the podium in giant slalom in exactly two years — since before her crash in Killington, Vt., in November 2024.
Shiffrin won the Kronplatz race three times, including in 2023 when with victory No. 83 she broke the all-time women’s wins record previously held by Lindsey Vonn.
Julia Scheib won the women’s giant slalom World Cup race in South Tyrol, Italy in a time of 2:19.85.
It was Brignone’s first race since breaking multiple bones in her left leg in April, which resulted in two surgeries and months of rehab.
“When I stuck my poles out, I said to myself, ‘I’m not sure if I’m ready.’ My hand was shaking,” Brignone said after the opening run. “I started off quite rigid, which makes it tough in these conditions. But then I remembered to breathe after the first checkpoint, and then it went a bit better.”
Brignone won’t compete in the next set of technical races this weekend in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic. Instead, she’ll head to nearby Cortina d’Ampezzo, where the women will race during the Olympics, for some speed training.
“I want to see if I’m able to participate in the races. I need to gain a bit more confidence so I can really charge,” Brignone said. “Right now, I make two or three good turns and then I hold back on the next one. But I’m leaving San Vigilio happy and confident.”
Brignone is hoping to compete for host Italy at the Olympics, which open Feb. 6 with the women skiing in nearby Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Sofia Goggia, another Italian, lost control midway down and didn’t finish her first run.
Watch the final run of the FIS World Cup slalom event in South Tyrol, Italy.
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