Worley wins giant slalom, Shiffrin only seventh

LENZERHEIDE: World champion Tessa Worley tuned up for the Olympic Games with her first World Cup success of the season at Lenzerheide in Switzerland on Saturday.

The French star led after the first run and held on for a combined time of 2min 10.81sec to beat German Viktoria Rebensburg by 0.07sec with Slovenia's Mate Hrovat third at 1.45s.

Worley was registering her 12th overall World Cup triumph ahead of the Pyeongchang Games which start on February 9.

US ski star and Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin, came seventh, almost two seconds off the winner.

Worley had finished second three times this season at Solden, Courchevel and Kranjska Gora, without quite managing the small step to the top of the podium.

Rebensburg had won three times, Shiffrin twice  and Italian Federica Brignone once.

Saturday's result meant Shiffrin retained her massive lead in the overall World Cup standings and Rebensburg stayed top in the giant slalom but Worley is now just 32 points behind.

Worley had struggled to deliver two good runs on the same day this season, often lagging badly after the first run and unable to quite catch up on the second.

At Lenzerheide, in tough snow conditions and on an extremely demanding piste, Worley delivered a demonstration on her first run, despite a big scare in the middle of the track and another wobble near the finish that cost a bit of speed.

Even so, she finished in 1:05.33 to create a cushion half a second ahead of Rebensburg and at least a second clear of the rest.

Worley, world champion in 2013 and 2017, has usually been good when leading after the first leg. While Rebensburg, who came down in 1:05.03 was faster, and Hrovat, at 1:04.84 fastest, in the second run, the French skier did enough, with a time of 1:05.48 to win by less than a tenth of a second.

The victory means Worley has won at least one World Cup giant slalom in seven different seasons, a sign of rare consistency and durability.

Only three skiers had achieved that feat: Slovenian Tina Maze, Liechtenstein's Hanni Wenzel and Austria's Anita Wachter, the only female skier to do better, with successes in eight seasons.

Worley missed the Sochi Games in 2014 after rupturing a knee ligament and it took her two years to return to the highest level.