SESTRIERE, Italy — Mikaela Shiffrin is not yet competitive in her tentative return to racing in giant slaloms. Federica Brignone is currently close to unbeatable.
In just her second GS race Saturday three months after a serious crash, Shiffrin did not qualify for a second run for the first time since 2012 by placing outside the top 30.
Shiffrin finished 2.50 seconds off the first-run lead set by Alice Robinson with more than 30 faster racers ahead of her who advance to the second run in the afternoon.
Shiffrin had finished 25th in Brignone’s victory Friday in her first giant slalom since suffering severe trauma to her oblique muscles and a deep puncture wound during a GS crash in Killington, Vermont in November when she was within sight of a 100th career win.
Brignone made it back-to-back wins on home snow Saturday, nine days after taking gold in giant slalom at the world championships in Saalbach, Austria.
The 34-year-old Italian was exceptional in the second run to extend her lead in the overall World Cup standings in pursuit of a second career title.
“I felt the crowd all over the slope cheering for me. It was an incredible feeling,” said Brignone, who now has 16 career wins in World Cup giant slaloms.
Brignone finished 0.77 ahead of Lara Gut-Behrami, who fell further behind in second place in the overall standings. Worlds silver medalist Robinson ended third, 0.79 behind Brignone, though still leads the season-long giant slalom standings.
Shiffrin has a record 22 career World Cup wins in giant slalom, plus gold medals at the 2018 Olympics and 2023 worlds, yet raced cautiously Saturday and wore an expression of resignation on seeing her time. The 14 previous top-ranked racers had all been between 1.4 and 2.5 seconds faster.
The previous race that Shiffrin completed a first run in slalom or giant slalom outside the top-30 times was in October 2012 at the season-opening GS at Soelden, Austria. Then, a 17-year-old Shiffrin wearing bib No. 41 had the 31st fastest time.
Shiffrin’s lack of recent racing meant on Saturday the bib number 15 she wore was the highest in a World Cup giant slalom for more than eight years. She won that December 2016 race wearing No. 15 at Semmering, Austria.
