France's Tessa Worley wins World Cup giant slalom in Vermont
Canadian Valerie Grenier earns 1st top-30 finish
France's Tessa Worley won the World Cup giant slalom event Saturday in Killington, Vt., holding off first-run leader Nina Loeseth of Norway. Mikaela Shiffrin of the U.S., runner-up in the season-opening giant slalom in Austria, finished fifth.
Marie-Michele Gagnon of Lac-Etchemin, Que., did not finish the second run.
Ottawa's Valerie Grenier was the top Canadian in 24th place, Candace Crawford of Toronto was close behind in 27th, while Mikaela Tommy, also of Ottawa, did not qualify for the second run.
According to Alpine Canada, it was Grenier's first top-30 finish in World Cup competition.
Congratulations <a href="https://twitter.com/valeriegrenier7">@valeriegrenier7</a> on your 1st giant slalom top 30 World Cup finish! 🏆 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CANSkiTeam?src=hash">#CANSkiTeam</a> Full results: <a href="https://t.co/ziXrAAb5Ih">https://t.co/ziXrAAb5Ih</a> <a href="https://t.co/AYxWLmFsCn">pic.twitter.com/AYxWLmFsCn</a>
—@Alpine_CanadaWorley, who won this event at the 2013 world championships, finished in 1 minute, 59.26 seconds. She was 0.80 seconds faster than Loeseth, who led by 0.09 seconds after the first run.
This was Worley's ninth giant slalom World Cup victory but first since she injured a knee in 2013.
"The tough part was to get back the spirit of the races, and to be able to give everything, and to do my best skiing during races," she said.
Sofia Goggia of Italy was third in 2:00.37, charging from 14th place with the fastest second run. Marta Bassino of Italy was fourth in 2:00.39.
This was the women's second giant slalom of the season. It was the first World Cup race held at Killington and first in Vermont since 1978.
Difficult weather conditions
The race on Killington's Superstar trail took place under overcast skies, with fog moving in and out during the second run. The fog had lifted and the wind was blowing snow showers across the slope as the top skiers pushed out for their second runs.
Switzerland's Lara Gut, who won the season's first giant slalom, was among 13 skiers who failed to finish the first run.
2/2 Really happy to see so many fans in the 🇺🇸! Thank you ❤️😘and dear finish line... see you in Lake Louise 😈
—@LaragutShe caught an edge early in her run and skied out.
Worley was adroit in handling a day of tough conditions. There was fog, snow squalls, a challenging surface and a 45-minute delay to the first-run start. She drew off the crowd of some 15,000, one of the biggest for an Alpine race in the U.S.
"I was really surprised," she said. "We were hearing about maybe 5,000 people, and actually it was three times more. You could feel the energy and I really like racing in those conditions."