Brignone and Vlhova share GS win, 0.01 ahead of Shiffrin

By: The Associated Press Posted: 5:19 AM CST Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020 Last Modified: 3:44 PM CST Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020

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SESTRIERE, Italy - In a World Cup race that nearly ended in a triple dead heat, Federica Brignone and Petra Vlhova shared a giant slalom victory Saturday in which Mikaela Shiffrin finished 0.01 seconds behind in third.

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SESTRIERE, Italy – In a World Cup race that nearly ended in a triple dead heat, Federica Brignone and Petra Vlhova shared a giant slalom victory Saturday in which Mikaela Shiffrin finished 0.01 seconds behind in third.

“I’ve also been on the good side of the hundredths many times,” Shiffrin said. “It happens sometimes like that, too.”

Brignone led after the first leg and was ahead at the final checkpoint of her second run on the Giovanni Agnelli course before crossing with the exact same time as Vlhova.

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin competes during the first run of an alpine ski, World Cup women's giant slalom in Sestriere, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

“It felt like having a heart attack,” Brignone said. “The race was right on the razor’s edge.”

Brignone, the Olympic bronze medallist in GS, claimed her 13th career World Cup win and third this season.

Her mother, Maria Rosa Quario, won a World Cup slalom on this course in 1983, and as an Italian, Brignone had immense home support.

“I haven’t been able to hear anything besides people screaming my name since this morning,” she said after extending her lead in the discipline standings to 61 points ahead of Shiffrin. “Winning in front of all these people is amazing. It’s hugely emotional.”

It was the second consecutive victory for Vlhova, who also won a slalom in Flachau, Austria, on Tuesday, and the 12th career World Cup win for the Slovakian.

Austria's Katharina Liensberger competes during the first run of an alpine ski, World Cup women's giant slalom in Sestriere, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

“It’s incredible,” Vlhova, last year’s world champion in GS, said of the close results.

Shiffrin has now uncharacteristically gone four straight races without a win. But the American skier maintains a comfortable lead of 233 points over Vlhova in the overall standings.

“I was really happy with my skiing today,” Shiffrin said. “I was so happy with my second run. I was pushing a lot more and I felt like the timing was a lot better.”

It marked the first time that the World Cup stopped in Sestriere, which hosted races during the Turin Olympics in 2006, in four years.