French skier Tessa Worley wins GS in Shiffrin’s absence

LIENZ, Austria (AP) — French skier Tessa Worley won a women’s World Cup giant slalom Tuesday in the absence of Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin and world champion Lara Gut-Behrami.

Racing in flat lights on the Schlossberg course, Worley held onto her first-run lead to beat defending overall champion Petra Vlhova by three-tenths of a second.

Worley became only the third female skier with at least 15 World Cup wins in giant slalom, after Vreni Schneider (20) and Annemarie Moser-Pröll (16).

“Skiing today was really fun, the slope was perfect and I enjoyed the challenge being in front in the first run. I feel I can trust my skiing and I’m really glad about that,” Worley said.

Sara Hector of Sweden, who was second after the opening run, had two costly mistakes in her final run and dropped to third, .38 behind Worley. It was the third straight podium result for Hector, who had won her first GS in seven years last week.

Italian speed specialist Sofia Goggia, who is Shiffrin’s main challenger for the overall title, finished 1.72 behind in 12th and reduced her deficit to 93 points. The American also remained in the lead of the GS standings, leading Hector by 18 points.

Shiffrin announced Monday she had tested positive for COVID-19, ruling the American out of the GS and Wednesday’s slalom, the last two races of the calendar year.

Gut-Behrami completed a 10-day quarantine following her positive test on Dec. 17 but her tests kept coming back positive, the Swiss ski team said.

Race director Peter Gerdol and another FIS official were also missing the event following positive tests.

No spectators were allowed at the race in the Lienzer Dolomites amid tight anti-coronavirus measures in Austria.

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