Soelden, Austria – Lara Gut of Switzerland dominated the season opening giant slalom of the Audi FIS World Cup alpine ski racing season on Saturday, winning by 1.44 seconds. Colorado’s Mikaela Shiffrin was second, followed by Marta Bassino of Italy, who stepped on her first World Cup podium in third place.
It was a bluebird day with grippy snow, and Gut—last season’s overall World Cup winner—took advantage of the conditions. Shiffrin looked strong after starting 16th first run, but couldn’t keep up with Gut’s flawless performance. Gut led Shiffrin by 1.42 seconds after the first run and while Shiffrin stayed on her heels second run, the lead was too great.
Gut admitted she was a little nervous heading into the first race of the season as the defending 2016 overall title winner, but she took the advice of Marcel Hirscher and her support team.
“It’s always special in Soelden, and you know it’s my first time coming as an [overall] winner,” said Gut after the run. “I had a tough time this morning, I was just thinking all the time today – like Marcel [Hirscher] told me yesterday just to ski. My team exactly told me the same. So I tried just not to think and ski.”
“Lara’s performance was really impressive,” said Shiffrin after the race. “I know that I had really, really good preparation coming into this race. I felt good about where my skiing was, so when she comes down and she’s that far ahead and taking every gate like it’s the last gate she’s ever going to ski, it’s really cool to see. But I’m gunning for the rest of the races!”
Shiffrin was not shy about her discussing her goals for giant slalom this season, highlighting the upcoming Killington World Cup and stating that she’s hunting for more GS podiums. “Right now, my focus is the slalom globe and GS globe,” said Shiffrin. “I really, really want to win GS races, even more than I want to win the overall globe.”
The women have a break before heading to Levi, Finland on November 12 for a slalom and then come back to the U.S. for the Killington World Cup.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup
Soelden, Austria – Oct. 22, 2016
Women’s Giant Slalom
| Rank | Bib | Name | Nation | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total | Diff. |
| 1 | 2 | GUT Lara | SUI | 1:10.11 | 1:12.91 | 2:23.02 | |
| 2 | 16 | SHIFFRIN Mikaela | USA | 1:11.53 | 1:12.93 | 2:24.46 | +1.44 |
| 3 | 10 | BASSINO Marta | ITA | 1:11.95 | 1:13.00 | 2:24.95 | +1.93 |
| 4 | 20 | BRUNNER Stephanie | AUT | 1:12.36 | 1:12.94 | 2:25.30 | +2.28 |
| 5 | 21 | GOGGIA Sofia | ITA | 1:12.92 | 1:12.87 | 2:25.79 | +2.77 |
| 6 | 13 | WORLEY Tessa | FRA | 1:12.88 | 1:12.96 | 2:25.84 | +2.82 |
| 7 | 12 | KIRCHGASSER Michaela | AUT | 1:12.39 | 1:13.64 | 2:26.03 | +3.01 |
| 8 | 55 | VLHOVA Petra | SVK | 1:13.64 | 1:12.61 | 2:26.25 | +3.23 |
| 9 | 6 | BRIGNONE Federica | ITA | 1:12.08 | 1:14.18 | 2:26.26 | +3.24 |
| 10 | 3 | DREV Ana | SLO | 1:12.62 | 1:13.69 | 2:26.31 | +3.29 |
fantastisk skiløber.