Flachau, Austria – Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg won her ninth career World Cup giant slalom in commanding fashion by almost a full second on Sunday over Slovenia’s Ana Drev. Italy’s Federica Brignone was third as the U.S. Ski Team’s Lindsey Vonn skied off the course in her second run.

“It’s a pretty good feeling,” said Rebensburg. “I mean this is always for sure the best feeling, being up on the podium. Yeah, and I think today everything was putting well together.”

The second run started under sunny conditions but snow came back as the afternoon went on, making the visibility tougher for the last 15 racers.

“For sure, it was not so easy in the second run with the conditions, but yeah, in the end it worked out,” Rebensburg added. “For sure, my feeling wasn’t also the best and I was not sure if it was fast or not, but yeah, when I came down here I saw nine tenths, so everything was working kind of good, so I’m pretty happy and really satisfied and proud.”

Drev held her nerves and raced to her first World Cup podium, finishing second, 0.94 seconds off the pace. The 30-year-old already this season led the first run in the Lienz giant slalom, but she slid off the course in the second run.

“I almost can’t believe it because I’ve been on the World Cup for such a long time and sometimes I didn’t believe any more that I could succeed, so I’m really happy,” said a smiling Drev, whose previous career-best result was a seventh place in Courchevel last December. “I’ve been skiing now for three years pretty okay, just I get some injuries and a lot of pain and this season actually I’m skiing without all this stuff and it makes it so much fun and that’s why I’m much better.”

Sunday was a tough day for the U.S. Ski Team, as Park City’s McJames failed to finish the first run, and Lindsey Vonn, who finished 10^th in the first run, lost time throughout the second run before splitting her skis and skiing out.

“(Lindsey’s) first run didn’t go as well as it could have, but at the same time, she felt she was in a position to improve on her first run and still come up with a solid result today,” U.S. women’s coach Paul Kristofic said. “She’s really looking forward to (Cortina d’Ampezzo) and getting back into racing speed – downhill and super G – that’s where she has had the most success so far this year.”

The World Cup women are now heading to Cortina for speed races later this week.

Fortunately for Vonn she lost little ground in the overall World Cup standings as current leader Lara Gut of Switzerland finished 19^th on Sunday. Vonn trails Gut by 50 points in the overall standings. Eve-Marie Brem of Austria, who finished fourth on Sunday, leads the World Cup giant slalom standings by 30 points over Gut.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Alpine Ski World Cup
Flachau, Austria – Jan. 17, 2016
Women’s Giant Slalom