Rome, Dec. 10 (BNA): Marta Pacino won the giant slalom on Saturday to claim her first World Cup victory in nearly two years, and she did it on home snow.
Thanks to the encouragement of the enthusiastic crowd, the Italian skier improved to her second place after the opening round win in Sestriere, according to the AP.
Pacino, who is from nearby Cuneo, finished 0.11 seconds ahead of Swedish Olympic champion Sarah Hector and 0.40 seconds ahead of top contender Petra Velhova, who is still looking for her first win of the season.
It was Pacino’s sixth World Cup win, but her first since January 2021, the season in which she won the GS title.
World Champion Lara Gut Behrami, who won her only GS title of the season, was seventh, 2.02 behind Pacino, with Mikaela Shiffrin just behind her.
However, Velhova managed to reduce Shiffrin’s lead in the overall standings to 25 points.
Shiffrin won the season’s opening two slalom races, with Vlhová finishing third in both. Neither has finished on the podium in a slalom or GS event in Killington, Vermont, and both opted out of the sprints at Lake Louise in Canada last weekend.
Shiffrin beat Vlhova to take the overall title last season. Vlhova won the previous year.
There is a slalom on Sunday.
insignificant