‘Queen’ Brignone crowned GS world champion in the ‘temple of skiing’

Fourteen years after Federica Brignone (ITA/Rossignol) first finished runner-up in a Giant Slalom at a world championship, the Italian finally secured the gold that she wanted more than any other on Thursday.

And she did it in spectacular style too, reducing most of the field to mere bystanders and proving beyond doubt that she is a championg etting ever better with age.

A stunning first run gave the 34-year-old Brignone an hefty advantage of 0.67 seconds over Alice Robinson (NZL/Salomon) and a huge 1.24 seconds over third-placed Paula Moltzan (USA/Rossignol).

Despite both rivals throwing down the challenge with impressive second efforts, Brignone accelerated away down the famous Saalbach slope before taking the adulation of a crowd that knew they had seen something special.

Robinson grabbed silver and a major slice of history, securing New Zealand’s first ever FIS Alpine World Ski Championship medal of any colour. It was a mighty effort from a skier who first won on the World Cup tour aged 17 before enduring several difficult seasons as she struggled to adapt to the weight of expectation that comes with precocious talent.

Moltzan knows what that is like too. A Junior World Champion back in 2015, the American only secured her first World Cup GS podium in the final race before arriving in Saalbach. It proved the perfect tonic, as she held her second run together, despite some bumpy moments, to edge out Norway’s Thea Louise Stjernesund (Rossingol) by one-hundredth-of-a-second and grab a first ever individual world championship medal.

Two champion GS skiers finished in fifth and sixth. But in a sign of just how dominant Brignone was, 2021 world gold medalist Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI/Head) finished 2.68 seconds behind the winner, with reigning Olympic GS champion, Sara Hector (SWE/Head) 2.88 back.

In fact, Robinson (+0.90) was the only skier of the 60 who lined up for run two to get within a second of Brignone, who becomes the oldest women’s GS world champion ever.

‘Queen of today’

It was no wonder Michelle Gisin (SUI/Salomon), the two-time reigning Alpine combined Olympic champion, called the Italian, “the queen of everything”.

A delighted Brignone disagreed, slightly.

“No, I'm the queen today, for sure,” she said, before reflecting on what made the difference in her seventh attempt at winning the GS world crown.

“Today, it was really my conditions, and I was able to keep my energy just for the race and be really aware and focused,” Brignone, who had won GS silver in 2011 and 2023, explained. “And this was really good because I was stressed, but for some reason I was able to keep it away. To be with a good stress, with adrenaline. I was able to focus on the right thing, and I was really there with my mind.

“It's an amazing thing. It was my dream since always. I mean, in GS I have this love and hate (relationship) because, for some reason, it's the one where I'm more stressed. Sometimes I can't handle the pressure, and I feel so bad in the start.

“But today was really nice and when I can do it, it's just amazing.”

Famous for her light, silky touch on skis, Brignone acknowledged that the snow in Saalbach was “the best” for her. But being able to exploit the conditions is a whole other skill.

“My material, my Rossignols (skis) are working really good with these conditions and also me,” Brignone laughed. “It's really important to be on the edge. You can't slide, and if you slide, your dead.

“I really managed to be in the rhythm, to start and be always, always on the edge, and always push from the beginning of the turn.”

That and a mid-second run pep talk to herself – “Suddenly I was too relaxed… and I said to myself, ‘Oh come on, you're still racing’” – delivered a second world championship gold, to go with the Alpine Combined title she won two years ago.

It comes as part of a season that has seen Brignone win five times already across three different disciplines on the World Cup tour, each time breaking her own record as the oldest female winner in history.

To cap it all with first Super G silver and now GS gold in the World Championships in Austria makes it all the sweeter.

‘Super cool to bring New Zealand to the medal table’

There has also been a freedom to Robinson’s skiing this season, with the New Zealander grabbing her first World Cup win in four years and motoring to the top of the standings.

“I’ve felt so good on my skis all year. I was bit worried about the conditions this morning, because it was, I guess, not my most favorable conditions, these spring conditions, but I think I've improved a lot on them,” Robinson said.” And I felt like the first run, I had a solid run, and I just wanted to charge more on the second run, and to come down with that lead. I was like, ‘OK, it didn't feel good, but it was fast’.

“It's super cool to get a medal and it's really awesome in a sport like Alpine ski racing to bring a country like New Zealand to the medal table. It's so cool and I'm just really proud.”

The first medal for her country in the 94 years since the first Alpine Ski World Championships were held is the culmination of quite a journey for the New Zealander.

“I fell into ski racing by accident, I came to Europe for the first time when I was 16, and then won a (World Cup) race a year later, and I just had no idea what I was doing. I had this natural, I guess, talent, but I really struggled actually,” Robinson explained.

“I struggled for a couple years with no podiums, and I really didn't know what to do. And I feel like last season and this season, I've been just finally breaking through and understanding the sport more.”

‘Bit of a late bloomer in the GS department’

Moltzan is another to feel like she has only recently got to grips with one of the most demanding of Alpine ski disciplines.

“I definitely have an unconventional story, but I'm proud of every step of it and it feels good to add this to the list of accomplishments I have,” said the 30-year-old Moltzan, who has struggled with injuries and form.

“I think it just takes time. I am a little bit of a late bloomer in the GS department, but, yeah, you just had to chip away. And I'm lucky to have really fast teammates to ski with.”

After Breezy Johnson’s (Atomic) Downhill gold, plus the Team Combined gold she and Mikaela Shiffrin (Atomic) picked up and Lauren Macuga’s (Rossignol) Super G bronze, it marks a fourth medal already for the USA women’s team in Saalbach. With time to add plenty more.

Although this one did come by the narrowest of margins.

“Thea (Stjernesund) is a really good friend of mine, so it's really hard. Ski racing is separated by one-hundredth-of-a-second all the time, and you can be on the right side or the wrong side. And I feel for her deeply, because I know what it feels like, and I'm sad for her,” Moltzan said.

Stjernesund could only agree with the sentiment.

“It's a brutal setting ending fourth by a hundredth (of a second) in a Championship,” the tearful Norwegian said, before reflecting that it is not all bad, “I was just so happy to see green lights because I've been in good positions after first run the whole year, but I haven't been able to get those green lights in the second. That meant a lot for me today, to just come in with that.”