Austria's Anna Fenninger won the first leg of the World Championships women's giant slalom on Thursday, surpassing an earlier run by Jessica Lindell-Vikarby and then watching Michaela Kirchgasser fall short.
The reigning World Cup overall champion's time of 1min 08.98sec was 0.81sec faster than her teammate Kirchgasser. Sweden's Lindell-Vikarby, who skied fifth out of the gate, was third after setting the early tone with a time of 1:09.88.
Slovenian Tina Maze, who won gold in the giant slalom at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and seeking a third gold of these championships, placed fourth in 1:10.08.
Crowd favourite Mikaela Shiffrin, who grew up in the Beaver Creek-Vail area, clocked 1:10.70 and her American teammate Lindsey Vonn struggled with the hill, finishing 2.67sec adrift of Fenninger.
Source: AFP