Federica Brignone celebrated the Sestriere double. © APA/afp / MARCO BERTORELLO

This Brignone cannot be bent

Federica Brignone is currently a phenomenon: despite being in fourth place at halftime, the 4-year-old ultimately achieved a convincing victory in the second giant slalom in Sestriere on Saturday.

22. February 2025

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Federica Brignone is slowly running out of superlatives. Just a week ago, the Azzurra was in bed with a fever, now she celebrated her second victory in two days in the western Italian Alps, not far from the French border. For the Aostan, who was already unbeatable in yesterday's giant slalom (SportNews reported), it was her 34th World Cup victory. This season alone, she has already won seven races.

At the halfway point of the second giant slalom in Sestriere, Brignone was still lurking in fourth place, 12 hundredths behind the leading New Zealander Alice Robinson. In the second run, she turned it up again and showed an outstanding performance after the cautious first run. She took the lead with a confident personal best. In the end, Brignone won with a lead of 0,77 seconds over the Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami, with Alice Robinson coming in third (+0,79).

The Azzurra (centre) left Lara Gut-Behrami (left) and Alice Robinson behind. © APA/afp / MARCO BERTORELLO

Sofia Goggia, who was only in 17th place after the first run, also showed a strong second run and moved up to fourth place (+1,18). The only South Tyrolean, Elisa Platino from Merano, clearly missed out on qualifying for the decision of the best 30. She did not get past 42nd place, 3,05 seconds behind the leading Robinson.

Tomorrow, Sunday, there is another slalom on the program in Sestriere. The first run starts at 9.30 a.m., the decisive second run follows from 12.15 p.m. With the SportNews-Live ticker so you don't miss anything.