Brignone takes RTL gold

World Ski Championships: Women’s giant slalom – LIVE from 9.45 am

Julia Scheib crashed on her way to the best time.(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

No medal for Austria! The Austrians had to digest a failure in the women's giant slalom. Julia Scheib, tenth at the halfway point, crashed in the final on her way to the best time. Gold went to Italy's Federica Brignone ahead of Australia's Alice Robinson (+0.90) and the USA's Paula Moltzan (+2.62).

Norway's Thea Louise Stjernesund was 1/100th of a second off bronze. The best Austrian was Katharina Liensberger in twelfth place (+4.55). Stephanie Brunner dropped from 25th to 18th.

The top 3: World champion Federica Brignone (center), silver medal winner Alice Robinson (left) and Paula Moltzan(Bild: Sepp Pail)

"I would have liked it to be Julie"
"It's not nice, I would have liked it to have gone to Julie, she was really great. I noticed that I didn't get the skis on the right traction in the key sections and that meant I lost speed," said Liensberger. Nevertheless, it was a great giant slalom day. "Full on attack and a really great atmosphere there."

Brunner, however, had nothing to be happy about. "I can't take anything away from today. In terms of skiing, I should forget about it quickly, but the atmosphere was really cool. If you're five seconds behind, then I don't need to look for anything, I just have to gain distance," said Brunner. Truppe had already described herself as a "gap filler" in the run-up to the race so that the fourth starting place would not remain vacant.

Stephanie Brunner(Bild: Sepp Pail)

Austria therefore still has five medals with three races to go. Stephanie Venier had won gold in the super-G and, together with Truppe, bronze in the team combined. There were silver medals for Raphael Haaser in the super-G and Mirjam Puchner and Vincent Kriechmayr in the downhill.

Brignone only the second RTL World Champion for Italy
Brignone is the first giant slalom world champion for Italy since Deborah Compagnoni in 1996 and 1997, and at the age of 34 she is also the oldest. The German Ossi Reichert was 30 years old in 1956. This is New Zealand's first ever podium finish at a World Championships.

Federica Brignone(Bild: AFP)

The first run on a salty slope and difficult conditions stood out negatively due to the large time gaps, the 30th was 4.97 seconds behind. On the positive side, there were skiers from ten nations in the first ten places. The second run was more rhythmic, but also had a few pitfalls. Despite the warm temperatures, the slope stood up to the demands.

The result: