SESTRIERE, Italy (AP) — Marta Bassino won a giant slalom on Saturday to claim her first World Cup victory in almost two years, and she did it on the local snow.
Cheered on by a passionate crowd, the Italian skier improved on her second position after the opening run to triumph in Sestriere.
Bassino, who is from nearby Cuneo, finished 0.11 seconds ahead of Olympic champion Sara Hector of Sweden and 0.40 ahead of race one leader Petra Vlhová, who is still seeking her first win of the season.
It was Bassino’s sixth World Cup victory, but his first since January 2021, the season in which he won the GS title.
World champion Lara Gut-Behrami, who won the only other GS for the season, she was seventh, 2.02 behind Bassino, and just behind Mikaela Shiffrin.
However, Vlhová managed to cut Shiffrin’s lead in the general classification to 25 points.
Shiffrin won both of the season-opening slalom races, with Vlhová finishing third in both. Neither finished on the podium in the slalom or the GS at Killington, Vermont, and both opted out of the sprint races at Lake Louise in Canada this past weekend.
Shiffrin beat Vlhová for the overall title last season. Vlhová won the year before.
There is a slalom scheduled for Sunday.
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