Brignone Emulates Mother But Shares Honours With Vlhova In Sestriere

Federica Brignone emulated her mother by winning a World Cup Alpine skiing race in Sestriere on Saturday but the Italian shared top spot on the podium with Slovak Petra Vlhova in the women's giant slalom

Sestriere, Italy, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Jan, 2020 ) :Federica Brignone emulated her mother by winning a World Cup Alpine skiing race in Sestriere on Saturday but the Italian shared top spot on the podium with Slovak Petra Vlhova in the women's giant slalom.

Both Brignone and Vlhova clocked the same overall time of 2min 21.15sec after the two runs down the Italian Alps, with US superstar Mikaela Shiffrin finishing third best just 0.01sec behind.

The 29-year-old Brignone follows her mother, former Italian skier Maria Rosa Quario, who won the slalom in the Italian Alpine resort back in 1983.

"The second run was enough to give me a heart attack," said Brignone.

She had posted the fasted time in morning's first run, but despite the fifth-fastest time in the second held on to match 24-year-old slalom specialist Vlhova.

"I put my life into it," continued the Italian.

"I could hear everyone screaming. I did what I planned to do, it was enough to win on a razor edge.

"I only saw afterwards that I had the same time as Vlhova, but I'm very happy about that." The two skiers also both achieved their 13th World Cup victory.

The Italian brings her tally in the giant slalom to seven career wins. She has won three races this season.

Olympic giant slalom champion Shiffrin set a blistering time in the second run to move up from fourth position into the final podium position, her 11th of the season.

But the 24-year-old from Colorado is still chasing her first win of 2020, with her last victories the giant slalom and slalom double in Lienz, Austria in late December.

Vlhova, meanwhile, claimed her fourth win of the season, having also won the slalom in Zagreb and Flachau, Austria earlier this month.

"It's my first win in the giant slalom this season, so I'm extremely happy about this," said the Slovak.

"When I finished I saw there was a hundred of a second's lead on Shiffrin. I was so happy. It's not much but enough to win." Shiffrin -- bidding for a fourth straight big crystal globe -- leads the overall World Cup standings, with a 233-point advantage on Vlhova.

Brignone is third 281 points behind the American.

The Italian leads the giant slalom standings 61-points ahead of Shiffrin with Vlhova fourth overall.