'I didn't think it was possible': Brignone wins Are giant slalom to keep title hopes alive

For a self-proclaimed bad weather specialist, it turns out that Federica Brignone (ITA) skis pretty well in the sunshine too.

In a giant slalom race of two halves in Are on Saturday, the Italian star recovered from a deficit of over a second from a windy, snowy first run to blitz the field in bright sunshine in the afternoon leg and win her fifth race of the season.

Brignone pushed the giant slalom and overall title races all the way to the World Cup finals by finishing in 2:11.02, ahead of home favourite Sara Hector (SWE, +0.33s) and World Cup leader Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI, +0.40s).

"I'm so grateful and proud of what I did," said the 33-year-old veteran. "It's something really amazing and something special."

Victory seemed unlikely for Brignone after the first run, when she struggled in the wind on the top section and, despite recovering in the closeout to finish third, found herself 1.16 seconds behind halfway leader Hector.

But a change in weather brought a surprising change of fortunes for the Italian, who has won in fog and snow this season and who declared just last week that she often skis her best in poor conditions.

A lowered start gate for the second run eliminated the wind, and with the course bathed in sunshine after the dull light of the morning session, Brignone put down a scintillating run over half a second faster than anyone else in the field.

"The first run, I was not really happy with my run — I started really bad and I had no confidence," said Brignone. "And in the second run I said to myself, 'OK, you have to try everything because you're (far) back.'

"I didn't think it was possible today to win the race. I just tried my best to be on the podium again, it was the objective of today."

After claiming 100 points on Saturday, Brignone trails Gut-Behrami by 95 points in the giant slalom title chase with one race left, and by 286 points for the overall globe with five races left, including two in slalom, which neither star typically skis.

Gut-Behrami missed out on the chance to wrap up her first giant slalom title on Saturday, but she remains on track for four crystal globes despite saying the title races are not yet on her mind.

"It is something that I will think about in Saalbach and not before," Gut-Behrami said after reaching her 89th World Cup podium. "I'm not thinking about globes."

The Swiss star had some of the worst wind conditions in the first run yet still finished second, but she couldn't match Brignone's mastery of the middle section in the second run.

"The snow was a little bit weird to ski, the first run with the wind and everything," Gut-Behrami said. "I struggled a little bit to find the right timing with this snow.

"I'm pretty happy with the result but not so much about my skiing."

Hector, aiming to become the third Swedish woman to win a World Cup race on home snow, admitted the pressure affected her in the build-up to the race.

"Yesterday I was nervous and I was feeling really bad," she said. "I almost didn't even want to start."

But skiing with bib No.1 in the first run, she put down a time that no one could touch and led Gut-Behrami by 0.61 seconds. Hector almost went down early in the second run, however, and bled time all the way down the mountain, managing only the 25th fastest time.

"I'm super happy to stand here with the second place today, but of course my second run was bad," the Olympic giant slalom champion admitted.

"I think I started a little bit too aggressive with the line, and I came a little bit too straight. And then I was on the limit all the time.

"If I had been a little bit smarter, maybe it wouldn't have happened."

Hector, 31, rued that she didn't use her experience to better effect, something that the two women who joined her on the podium have done this superbly this season and again on Saturday.

The 32-year-old Gut-Behrami sees Brignone, one year her senior and already the oldest winner of a women's World Cup giant slalom race, as a template to follow in the future.

"Right now she's skiing on an amazing level," Gut-Behrami said. "It's nice and it's also inspiring — maybe I can do the same next year."