CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (Reuters) – Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin was poised for her second gold of the Alpine skiing world championships after leading U.S. team-mate Nina O’Brien in Thursday’s first leg of the women’s giant slalom.
Italian hopes faded, with reigning overall World Cup champion Federica Brignone skiing out and Tuesday’s parallel gold medallist Marta Bassino lagging in 15th after a disappointing run.
Chasing her third medal from Cortina d’Ampezzo and 10th from five world championships, Combined winner Shiffrin powered down the Olympia delle Tofane piste in one minute 13.22 seconds from seventh on the start list.
O’Brien, starting 19th in her first world championships, then produced a stunning run to finish just 0.02 slower.
The 23-year-old was 0.49 ahead at the third split but lacked the speed to stay top as the finish loomed on a clear day in the Dolomites.
“It looked like you could just attack the entire thing, so I tried to push and let it go, and it seemed to work,” said O’Brien.
Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami, last week’s super-G gold medallist, was third with 0.08 to make up and everything still to play for.
Austrian Katharina Liensberger was lurking in fourth place, 0.26 off Shiffrin’s time, with Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin fifth.
New Zealander Alice Robinson remained in the hunt for a medal, sixth and 0.51 off.
“I was really charging at the top of the run and then had a little mistake, and went on my hip a little bit so I backed off a little bit on the bottom,” said the teenager. “I’m really excited for the second run. I’m just going to go for it 100%.”
Poland’s Maryna Gasienica-Daniel was seventh, 0.57 off, with Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel and France’s Tessa Worley both within a second of Shiffrin.
Defending world champion Petra Vlhova of Slovakia was in 11th place but 1.17 behind in a first leg with 99 starters from 44 countries. The second leg starts at 1230 GMT.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by…)
