Olympic champ Sara Hector wins World Cup giant slalom as former leader Federica Brignone falls

KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia (AP) — Olympic champion Sara Hector won her second women’s World Cup giant slalom of the season on Saturday as Italian skier Federica Brignone fell in the first run.

Hector, who was fastest in the first run, finished 1.42 seconds ahead of the 18-year-old Lara Colturi of Albania, to move atop both the GS and overall standings.

The 34-year-old Brignone’s hopes of extending her lead in the GS standings ended when she fell in her first race since extending her record as the oldest race winner in women’s World Cup history at Semmering in Austria last weekend.

Hector, who won the second race of the season in Killington in November, was second in Semmering. She leads the GS standings with 296 points after four races, 96 ahead of Brignone, while she moved top of the overall leaderboard on 407 points, 24 ahead of Switzerland’s Camille Rast.

And she did it despite a seasonal cough.

“It's really amazing." Hector said. "But I was resting a lot this week, so maybe it helped a little bit. When I've been training a lot, resting is a good recipe.”

Colturi celebrated her second World Cup podium place and Albania's first in GS.

"I was feeling really confident in myself in the last week and finally I’ve made two really good runs,” said Colturi, who finished ahead of New Zealand's Alice Robinson.

In the absence of the injured Mikaela Shiffrin, AJ Hurt was the leading American racer in Kranjska Gora, 2.73 behind Hector in 10th, ahead of teammate Nina O’Brien.

Lindsey Vonn, who made her return to World Cup racing in Switzerland on Dec. 21 after nearly six years of retirement, only competes in the speed events of downhill and super-G. She’s due to race again next weekend in St. Anton, Austria.

The women's slalom is scheduled to take place Sunday at Kranjska Gora.

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The Associated Press