Tessa Worley claims women's giant slalom victory in Lienz for first win of season
French skier claimed her first women's World Cup alpine ski win of the season, with overall standings leader Shiffrin missing the race due to Covid.
Tessa Worley of France secured a thrilling victory in final giant slalom race of 2021, at the Alpine Ski World Cup in Lienz on Tuesday (28th December).
The two-time world champion was quickest after the first of the two runs in Austria. She could only manage fourth in run two, but it was good enough to claim the title with a combined time of 2:03:88.
“Skiing today was really fun, the slope was perfect and I enjoyed the challenge being in front in the first run. I feel I can trust my skiing and I’m really glad about that,” Worley said afterwards.
Worley became the third female skier to secure at least 15 World Cup wins in giant slalom, following Vreni Schneider (20) and Annemarie Moser-Pröll (16).
Overall defending champion Petra Vlhova of Slovakia was pipped into second place, just +0.30 back, while there was another good performance for Sweden's Sara Hector, who finished third 0.38 off the winning time.
The 2020 overall World Cup winner Federica Brignone of Italy also impressed, finishing fourth, just ahead of the discipline's defending champion Marta Bassino in sixth.
This event serves as crucial preparation for the athletes ahead of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics beginning in February.
Overall World Cup leader Mikaela Shiffrin and reigning world champion Lara Gut-Behrami both missed the race after testing positive for Covid.
In her absence, Sofia Goggia also took the opportunity to close the gap in the standings by picking up points for finishing 12th.
Katharina Liensberger put down a solid couple of runs on her return to the slopes action after a long coronavirus-enforced break from competition. She finished 25th. The double world champion from Austria recently told Olympics.com how a pop song inspired her to 'fly' to gold, and why she usually skis with a smile.
Women's Giant Slalom in Lienz on 28th December 2021 - Results
Results to follow - Alpine Ski World Cup
The women's season continues on Wednesday (29th December) with a slalom race, also in Lienz.