SEMMERING, Austria (AP) – Mikaela Shiffrin took a slim lead in the opening run of a women’s World Cup giant slalom on Wednesday, positioning herself for a second win in as many days.
The American defied strong winds and snowfall on the Panorama course to lead Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany by 0.08 and Tessa Worley of France by 0.10 seconds. Federica Brignone of Italy was another 0.13 further back in fourth.
Slalom specialist Shiffrin took her 24th career win but only second in GS at Tuesday’s race, which replaced an event that was canceled in Courchevel, France, last week.
Shiffrin leads the overall World Cup standings, currently 55 points ahead of defending champion Lara Gut. The Swiss skier had 0.71 seconds to make up in the second run of Wednesday’s race.