MERIBEL – Italian skier Federica Brignone set the fastest time in the Super-G portion of the women’s combined and led on Monday, the opening day of the World Championships Defending champion Mikaela Shiffrin by almost a second.
Racing under blue skies, Brignone found the fastest line on the Roc de Fer course as she put a 0.71 second lead on Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami and Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel, who both set the same time.
Italian teammate Elena Curtoni was fourth, 0.78 seconds back.
The combined discipline adds the results of a Super-G run and a slalom run.
Both Gut-Behrami and Mowinckel were among a group of eight speed specialists who used their run as practice for Wednesday’s Super-G race and will not start in the slalom leg. Downhill Olympic champion Sofia Goggia and two-time downhill world champion Ilka Stuhec also skipped the second stage of the combination.
Shiffrin set the sixth fastest time and had to catch up 0.96 seconds on Brignone in the slalom, the American’s strongest discipline.
“I know that Federica doesn’t do much slalom, but I know that she can be very fast when she skis. So I’m not sure I can really do that nine-tenths,” Shiffrin said. “The ones who win a medal are the ones who have a pretty solid run in both events or a really killer run in at least one event. I think I can do a very good slalom run, so I’m just concentrating on that now.”
Shiffrin competed in her first major event since failing to win a medal in six starts last year Olympic Games in Beijing.
“I’m pretty happy with my first run. I felt pretty good skiing,” Shiffrin said. “Obviously there are some sections where I can ski a lot faster.”
Shiffrin has won a total of six world titles and 11 medals in 13 previous starts at world championships.
American teammate Breezy Johnson fell halfway but was unhurt. said the US ski team.
Brignone said the course was difficult with some shady sections making it difficult to see the terrain.
“There are many roles, so you have to be very, very specific. I tried that and it went really well,” said Brignone.
The Italian also led the combination at her home World Championships two years ago, but retired early in the slalom.
“Anything can happen in slalom. I was in Cortina first and then I scored three goals,” she said. “I’m also a nice slalom skier, certainly not the best, but I can do some pretty good descents.”
Italy teammate Marta Bassino was one of the five skiers who did not finish. She missed a gate after driving into a shady part of the course.
Swiss Olympic champion Michelle Gisin and two-time world champion Wendy Holdener finished more than 1.5 seconds behind the top 10.
Petra Vlhova, the 2019 and 2021 silver medalist, sat out the race to focus on her core disciplines of giant slalom and slalom. The 2021 overall World Cup winner from Slovakia has been struggling with health problems in recent weeks.
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