Italian skier Brignone shades Rebensburg in Lienz giant slalom

Italy's Federica Brignone edged Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg by four hundredths of a second to win the giant slalom in Lienz on Friday.

In-form American Mikaela Shiffrin had to settle for third in her attempt to win a fifth women's World Cup race this month.

Shiffrin, who won Thursday's slalom at the Tyrol resort, finished eight hundredths of a second behind to retain her position at the head of the overall World Cup standings.

She has a 371 point cushion over Rebensburg.

In fourth came France's double world champion Tessa Worley whose hopes of making the podium were thwarted when she made a mistake on the second run which cost her valuable time.

Brignone prevailed after a tricky start to the season when she missed the curtain raiser in Solden and went off the circuit at Courchevel.

"It was extremely tight, four hundredths of a second, when we go so quickly that really is nothing at all," said Rebensburg.

Brignone came out on top from a strong Italian squad featuring Sofia Goggia, Manuela Moelgg and Marta Bassino.

She was lying second after the first run, .17 adrift of Rebensburg, but managed to make that up with a faultless second leg.

"I didn't feel so good at the start of the first run, I was too slow especially on the first section.

"I knew that I'd have to attack from the start at the second run if I wanted to win," Brignone said after her sixth World Cup success.

With this performance she has marked herself down as a candidate for a podium at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in February.

Source: AFP