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World champion Brignone storms to Sestiere giant slalom / Photo: Marco BERTORELLO - AFP
World champion Brignone storms to Sestiere giant slalom
Federico Brignone stormed to Friday's giant slalom in Sestiere on her return to action as newly-crowned world champion, as Mikaela Shiffrin flopped in her bid for a 100th World Cup win.
Fresh from winning giant slalom gold and super-G silver in Saalbach, Brignone clocked a combined time of two minutes and 12.69 second, beating first run leader Alice Robinson by 0.40sec.
The Italian was struggling with flu but overcame Robinson with a sensational second run which took her ahead of the New Zealander and extended her lead over Lara Gut-Behrami at the top of the overall World Cup standings to 170 points.
Reigning World Cup champion Gut-Behrami did not finish her first run and was not among the 30 skiers contesting the afternoon showdown.
Norway's Thea Louise Stjernesund completed the podium in the Italian Alps, a whopping 1.57sec behind Brignone.
American star Shiffrin will have to wait a bit longer for her 100th win as she continues her comeback from injury. Two tentative runs left the 29-year-old 4.65sec behind Brignone in 25th position.
Shiffrin was contesting her first giant slalom since crashing out at Killington in November, an accident which left her sidelined for two months with an abdominal puncture wound that required surgery.
Sestiere hosts another giant slalom on Saturday before a slalom on Sunday.
S.Cloutier--SMC
