Medals update: Sweden’s Sara Hector wins Olympic gold in women's Alpine skiing giant slalom
Sara Hector of Sweden takes the first gold medal of the women’s Alpine skiing program at Beijing 2022 with a win in giant slalom on Monday (7 February). Her combined time of 1:55.69 was fast enough to edge out Italy’s Federica Brignone (silver) and bronze-medallist Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland.
Alpine Skiing
Sara Hetcor wins gold in the women’s giant slalom in the first of the Alpine skiing medal events for women at Beijing 2022. Describing the win as "crazy", the Swedish skier held onto her first-run lead to claim an Olympic title in her third Winter Games. Her previous best result was 10th in this discipline at PyeongChang 2018.
"I'm so proud, I can't put it into words," she said post race. "I really tried to push it and give it all I got. It's just amazing."
Italy’s Federica Brignone, climbed one place from the first run to claim silver, adding to the bronze medal she won in the same discipline four years ago. Finishing 0.28s behind the Swede in 1:55.97, the 31-year-old, who is competing at her fourth Olympic Winter Games, is the sole repeat medallist in this discipline from Republic of Korea.
"Four years ago I was third, and before coming here I said if I come back with one medal that would be a great dream for me," said Brignone. "Doing it at the first race, it's amazing."
Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami, generally a speed specialist, was thrilled to climb five places from her first run to notch bronze in the technical event in a time of 1:56.41. She was even more thrilled to make the podium in the discipline after finishing fourth in PyeongChang 2018.
"I've been struggling a lot in the last time," said Gut-Behrami. "One day I'm skiing well, the other one I'm just fighting. Today was exactly the same. The first run I was trying and nothing went well. The second run was again easy, so I'm really happy. It's amazing to win a medal in GS."
There was a shock in the first run when the reigning Olympic giant slalom gold medallist, Mikaela Shiffrin, did not make the second run. The American's challenge for back-to-back titles in the women's discipline ended seconds into the run on the Yanqing slopes after an early error.
The double Olympic gold medallist told the Associated Press her run was "a huge disappoinment", going on to say, “The day was finished basically before it even started”.
Several other top skiers – including 2021 World Cup winner Marta Bassino of Italy – also exited the competition after failing to make it to the end of run one where there was a total of 19 DNFs out of 80 starters.
The next chance for the women to win medals in Alpine skiing is on Wednesday (9 February) in the slalom event, which starts with the first run of two at 10.15am Beijing time.
Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 women's giant slalom results
- Sara HECTOR (SWE) - 1:55.69
- Federica BRIGNONE (ITA) - 1:55.97
- Lara GUT-BEHRAMI (SUI) - 1:56.41