'You were so good': Brignone gets up off her sick bed to win in Sestriere

Housebound with illness all week, using a mask to breathe, and hung over from the world championships in more ways than one — none of that could stop Federica Brignone (ITA/Rossignol) in Sestriere on Friday.

A day after getting up off her sick bed, the newly-minted world champion continued on her merry way, winning a Giant Slalom on home snow to claim her sixth World Cup victory of the season and extend her lead in the Overall standings.

Despite her energy levels being "not so good", the Italian star skied two flawless runs to once again finish ahead of Alice Robinson (NZL/Salomon, +0.40), with Thea Louise Stjernesund (NOR/Rossignol, +1.57s) well back in third.

"It's been really an amazing day," Brignone said after winning her 33rd World Cup race in all disciplines to move into the all-time women's top 10, equal with Erika Hess (SUI).

"I'm feeling better since yesterday and I knew it was possible to make two good runs. I knew I was not 100 percent, but for the two runs, I was 100 percent."

Brignone, who spent six days at home with illness following her world championships triumph and posted a photo of herself on social media using a breathing mask, only travelled to Sestriere on Thursday.

She kept a low profile around the piste on Friday to conserve energy, later apologising for not being her usual social self.

"I kept the energy for all those two minutes and something (2:12.69) to put all the energy into the race," she said.

On the second-longest Giant Slalom course of the World Cup season to date, Brignone somehow found the energy reserves for a slick closeout to her first run, recording the fastest final sector of the field to go second overall, 19 hundredths of a second behind Robinson.

Despite appearing exhausted in the finish area, Brignone then stepped it up another gear in the second run, demolishing the field by more than half a second to set a time that Robinson couldn't match.

"The first run I didn't ski so good (on) the first flat, so the second run I tried to keep the rhythm more high before this flat part and just to arc every single turn," Brignone said. "This was the only thing I was thinking."

Stjernesund met Brignone in the finish area and told her what everyone else was thinking: "You were so good," Stjernesund said, with an expletive thrown in for emphasis.

In a reversal of their roles in the world championships, it was Robinson who skied last after Brignone had thrown down the gauntlet. But unlike last week, the final skier couldn't quite rise to the challenge, and Robinson settled for second.

Still, the 23-year-old New Zealander is in the form of her life, having now finished first or second in the last three global Giant Slalom races and been on the podium in all but one contest in the discipline this season.

"Fede stepped it up again and I wasn't able to match it," Robinson admitted. "I'm a little bit disappointed that I couldn't keep the lead from the first run, but I'm happy with my skiing and second place isn't too much to complain about."

Stjernesund, who missed out on a world championship medal by one hundredth of a second, gained a small measure of revenge by reaching her first World Cup podium of the season.

In fifth place after the first run, Stjernesund used a quick closeout to take the provisional lead, and when Sara Hector (SWE/Head) and Paula Moltzan (USA/Rossignol) couldn't overtake her, the Norwegian's podium was guaranteed.

"I'm so happy, and considering the two I have in front of me, they've been so strong this whole winter," Stjernesund said. "So of course, I want to be on the top but for me it meant a victory today to get this third place."

In moving up one spot from the world championships, Stjernesund credited trying to emulate Brignone.

"I'm super impressed by Fede," Stjernesund said. "Also in world champs she skis the last ski like it's the first and today I was like, 'I'm going to do that too.'"

The skier who denied Stjernesund that world championships medal, Moltzan, was on track to do the same again as she led the Norwegian by nearly three-quarters of a second heading into the final stretch of the second run.

A huge mistake scrubbed off all Moltzan's speed, however, and while she recovered to finish the race, she dropped from third to sixth.

Her teammate Mikaela Shiffrin (USA/Atomic), competing in her first Giant Slalom race since suffering a puncture wound in the Killington GS on 30 November, skied cautiously in both runs and ended up 25th, over 4.5 seconds behind Brignone.

The USA star will have two more chances to become the first Alpine skier to win 100 World Cup races in Sestriere this weekend, with another Giant Slalom on Saturday and a Slalom on Sunday.

While Shiffrin might point to Sunday as her best chance for a historic victory, the rest of the field will try to keep up with Brignone on Saturday, starting with Robinson, the only skier who has been near the Italian in Giant Slalom lately.

"We'll try and keep more of the same tomorrow, and see if I can step it up," the New Zealander said.