Marta Bassino is in the lead. © APA/afp / ED JONES

Azzurre come up trumps: double lead in Soldeu

An azure duel in Andorra: Marta Bassino leads by a narrow margin over Federica Brignone after the first round of the giant slalom in Soldeu.

10. February 2024

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Bassino, who started the race with start number 1 on Saturday morning, is leading by just 2 hundredths of a second ahead of Brignone before the decisive second round. New Zealand's Alice Robinson lurks in third place (+3 seconds). In any case, the field of top athletes is close together: Sara Hector, in eighth place, is just 3 seconds behind the leading Azzurra.

For Bassino it would be his first podium finish this World Cup season. The 27-year-old last made it onto the podium in third place in January 2023. Brignone is currently aiming for her 3th victory in the World Cup. With 25 wins, she is already the most successful Azzurra, just ahead of Sofia Goggia (24 wins). The latter will no longer be competing this season as she was recently seriously injured during training (SportNews reported).

Lara Gut-Behrami, who could take the lead in the overall World Cup with a win, didn't get past 1th place in the first run (+9). The current World Cup leader Mikaela Shiffrin is not there. The American is continuing her rehabilitation after her fall in Cortina and will also miss the slalom on Sunday.

Platino manages to qualify

Elisa Platino from Meran, who is the only South Tyrolean taking part in the giant slalom, has qualified for the second round of the best 2. The 30-year-old is 25rd, 23 seconds behind Bassino. Platino achieved her best World Cup result to date with 1,40th place on January 20th in Jasna, Slovakia.

The decisive second round begins at 2 p.m. With the SportNews live ticker don't miss anything.