Fifth victory: Brignone conjures up magic in Åre

The women's giant slalom in Åre (Sweden) was pure excitement! Federica Brignone delivered an impressive performance on Saturday and is getting ever closer to the small crystal globe.

March 08, 2025

From: do

What a performance from Federica Brignone! In a race in which the piste conditions became more difficult with each runner and many athletes gained numerous places, the Azzurra proved that she is without doubt the best giant slalom skier in the world at the moment. The 34-year-old world champion, who was already in the lead after the first run, also conjured up an impressive run in the snow in the second run - apart from a small moment of shock - and secured her fifth giant slalom victory this season.

Her biggest rival in the discipline rankings, Alice Robinson, took second place, while Italian Lara Colturi, competing for Albania, completed the podium in third place.

Alice Robinson goes into the World Cup final as leader of the discipline rankings. © APA / EXPA/JOHANN GRODER

Brignone once again showed her iron nerves. Before the race, she was 40 points behind Robinson. When she started the second run, the New Zealander was already in the lead - a failure or a big loss of time by the Italian would have secured Robinson the small crystal globe. But Brignone was not put off, put everything on the line and attacked fully. With an extremely aggressive ride - during which she almost catapulted herself out of the race when she took a bump too directly - she raced to the finish with a whopping 1,36 second lead.

Robinson's challenge and Goggia's mistake

But Alice Robinson also deserves a hat-off. The 23-year-old, who has shown impressive consistency this season, had to take a big risk in the second run after finishing fifth in the first run - and that's exactly what she did. With an outstanding performance, she fought her way to second place and thus secured her twelfth giant slalom podium place in the last 14 races. She now travels to the World Cup final in Sun Valley (USA) with a 20-point lead over Brignone, where the last race will decide the discipline ranking.

Sofia Goggia made a big mistake. © APA/afp / GEIR OLSEN

However, Robinson also benefited from a big mistake by Sofia Goggia. The 32-year-old was on course for her first giant slalom podium in seven years and went into the second run in second place. But her usual aggressive driving style was her undoing: a big mistake cost her several seconds and threw her way back. In the end, she only finished 28th, 8,12 seconds behind.

In the overall World Cup, Brignone extended her lead over Lara Gut-Behrami, who finished ninth (+2,52), to 322 points. There are still six races left in this alpine skiing season.