Italy's Marta Bassino notches 1st World Cup win with giant slalom victory
Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin places 3rd in front of home American fans
Marta Bassino led an Italian 1-2 as a World Cup giant slalom victory at Killington eluded Mikaela Shiffrin again on Saturday.
Bassino sealed a first career win by retaining her first-run lead to edge Federica Brignone by 0.26 seconds. Brignone, who won this race last year, was first to greet her teammate and hugged her in the finish area.
Shiffrin was a further 0.03 back in third for a fourth straight top-five finish in GS at the Vermont venue without taking the win.
Still, the three-time defending overall World Cup champion extended her standings lead with a third podium finish to start the season.
Shiffrin also will be favoured on Sunday to claim a slalom win for the fourth straight year on the Super Star course.
WATCH | Bassino claims her 1st career World Cup victory:
Bassino is a former junior world champion in giant slalom, who had four previous third-place finishes on the World Cup circuit. She also placed fifth at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, where Shiffrin won and Brignone took bronze.
"I finally put together two runs," Bassino said. "I tried to focus just on myself and to ski like I know how. Then I saw the green light and I thought, `Wow."'
Bassino clocked under 50 seconds in bright sunshine for each run which was shortened due to gusting winds at the scheduled start higher up the mountain.
Marie-Michele Gagnon of Lac Etchemin, Que., was 29th, finishing 3.52 seconds behind Bassino.
Alice Robinson of New Zealand, who won the season-opening giant slalom last month at Soelden, Austria, failed to finish the first run Saturday, racing the day before she turns 18.
Live coverage continues on Sunday at 9:45 a.m. ET