Brignone and Vlhova share GS win, 0.01 ahead of Shiffrin

SESTRIERE, Italy (AP) — Federica Brignone and Petra Vlhova tied for a World Cup giant slalom victory Saturday while overall leader Mikaela Shiffrin finished third by the smallest of margins.

Shiffrin was just one hundredth of a second behind the joint winners on the Giovanni Agnelli course.

Brignone led after the first leg and was ahead at the final checkpoint of her second run before crossing dead level with Vlhova.

Still, Brignone extended her lead in the discipline standings to 61 points ahead of Shiffrin.

It was the second consecutive victory for Vlhova, who also won a slalom in Flachau, Austria, on Tuesday.

Shiffrin has now uncharacteristically gone four straight races without a win. But the American skier maintains a comfortable lead of 233 points over Vlhova in the overall standings.

It marked the first time that the World Cup stopped in Sestriere, which hosted races during the Turin Olympics in 2006, in four years.

Conditions were perfect, with sunny skies after overnight snow on the upper section.

With racers requiring more than 70 seconds to complete the course, it marked one of the longer tests on the women’s circuit.

A parallel giant slalom race is scheduled for Sunday on the Agnelli course.

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