Italian Marta Bassino continued to be the woman to beat in Giant Slalom as she picked up her third victory of the season in the discipline today in Kranjska Gora.
Marta Bassino won the first two women's Giant Slalom World Cup races this season, in Sölden on October 17th and in Courchevel on December 12th. She DNF in the second race in Courchevel, on December 14th, won by Mikaela Shiffrin.
Determined to win today Bassino attacked both runs to led after the first run by 0.23 seconds and extended her dominance even further in the second run, to pick up the victory by a 0.80 margin.
No Italian woman has won three Women's World Cup Giant Slaloms in a single season since the 2007-2008 season when Denise Karbon set a national record winning five.
"It’s just amazing, (...) It was a very tough race, it was difficult to find good sensations on a very demanding and icy track and where it was easy to ski badly. I struggled a lot, but I held out from the first to the last gate, technically skiing the best possible. For meIt is the third win of the season on three quite different tracks from a technical point of view. What makes me happy is the fact that I have inflicted so much gap on my opponents on a track I was particularly afraid of. Winning in these conditions is fantastic. Now the most important thing is to stay focused on tomorrow's race'', Bassino said.
Bassino jumps to the top of the Giant Slalom standings ahead of her teammate Federica Brignone.
Tessa Worley turned in the fastest second run to jump into the podium, finishing in second place. It was her best World Cup finish since exactly two years ago in Kronplatz.
She finished on the podium, in third place, in the second race in Courchevel.
Michelle Gisin ended the first run in second place and finished to third place at the end of the day, but the Swiss were still quite happy to earn her first-ever career Giant Slalom podium. Michelle Gisin finished fourth in Sölden and in the second race in Courchevel.
The 27-year-old has now finished on the podium in the Slalom, Giant Slalom, Super-G, Downhill, and Alpine Combined.
It also helped her gain a little ground in the hunt for the Overall World Cup. She still sits in second place behind Petra Vlhova and just ahead of Mikaela Shiffrin. Both finished just out of podium range in fourth and fifth place, respectively.
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