Kranjska Gora, Slovenia—Italian Marta Bassino dominated the World Cup giant slalom in Kranjska Gora on Saturday (Sunday Philippine time) to beat France’s Tessa Worley by 0.80 seconds with Swiss skier Michelle Gisin a distant third
On an icy slope, Bassino was fastest in the first run in 1min 4.15sec, with Gisin second and overall World Cup leader Petra Vlhova third.
In the second run, Worley surged from fifth with the fastest time at 1:07.70 but skiing last on a fast deteriorating piste, Bassino was just 0.05sec slower as she recorded the second fastest time of the run.
“It feels good to be on the podium with such a second run, fighting on a demanding slope. I didn’t feel at my best but I went on the attack,” Worley told AFP.
Bassino’s third victory in four giant slaloms this season allowed her to take the lead in the discipline from compatriot Federica Brignone, who was fifth.
Bassino had already won the giant slaloms in Soelden in Austria in October and Courchevel in France in December.
“I have won on three different types of races, on three different types of snow, and I am proud of that,” said Bassino before comparing herself to two retired Austrian skiing greats. “I saw Marcel Hirscher, Anna Veith, they were able to win on several types of slopes, I also managed to do it and it is incredible.”
American star, Mikaela Shiffrin, the only woman to have beaten Bassino in a giant slalom this season, finished sixth 2.18 behind.
For Gisin it was her first top-three finish in a World Cup giant slalom and completed her set of podium placings in the four traditional disciplines.
She gained 10 points in the overall standings on Vlhova, who was fourth, but the Slovenian still holds a commanding 114-point lead.
Shiffrin, who won three consecutive overall titles from 2017-19 and was second to Brignone last year, is third, 224 points behind Vlhova.
The races were initially set for Maribor, but were moved because of the lack of snow in the Slovenian town.