Sweden's Hector wins women's giant slalom, Shiffrin suffers disqualification

Swedish skier Sara Hector capped a recent career resurgence in the best way possible, winning the gold medal in the women's giant slalom at the Beijing Olympics on Monday for her first individual victory at a major championship.

The 29-year-old Hector finished two runs down a course known as The Ice River at the Yanqing Alpine Skiing Centre in an unofficial combined time of 1:55.69 seconds. She was quickest down the hill in the first run and an eighth-quickest second leg was enough for her to hold on.

Federica Brignone of Italy was 0.28 seconds slower over the two legs to add a silver medal to the bronze she won in the GS at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games behind Mikaela Shiffrin.

Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland was third, 0.72 behind Hector, and now has another bronze to go alongside the one she collected in the downhill at Sochi 2014.

When Hector crossed the line, she raised her ski poles overhead and yelled to celebrate before being embraced by Brignone and Gut-Behrami.

Shiffrin, the defending champion, missed a gate early in the first run of the giant slalom at the Beijing Games on Monday and was disqualified from the event.

Despite not finishing, the 26-year-old Shiffrin still could have a handful of chances over the next two weeks to become the first Alpine ski racer from the United States to win three Olympic golds across a career.

She has said she hopes to enter all five individual events at Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Center.

Her next race is the slalom on Wednesday. Shiffrin won that at age 18 at the 2014 Sochi Games, part of a remarkable career that includes a total of three Olympic medals — there was a silver in the combined at Pyeongchang in 2018, in addition to her triumph in the giant slalom there — three World Cup overall titles and a half-dozen world championship golds.

She arrived in China as one of the most-watched athletes in any sport at the Winter Olympics, a superstar who has dominated ski racing for long stretches in recent years.

Her debut in Beijing was over quickly. In the first run of the two-leg giant slalom, the first women's Alpine race on the schedule, Shiffrin slipped and tried to right herself, but it was too late.

Eventually, she got up and stopped on the side of the hill at the course known as The Ice River, stuck her poles in the snow and put her hands on her hips.

Shiffrin was the seventh racer out of the starting gate — and not the first to encounter trouble.

Canada's Grenier, Gray DQ'd

Canada's Valerie Grenier was also disqualified after getting caught on a gate nearing the end of her run.

The Ottawa native was also disqualified in the giant slalom event in her Olympic debut in 2018, but did finish sixth in the alpine combined event.

Calgary native Cassidy Gray, the only other Canadian in the event, lost an edge early into her run and was also disqualified. The 21-year-old was participating in her first Olympic Games in Beijing.

Italy's Marta Bassino, who won the World Cup giant slalom title last season and went two spots earlier than Shiffrin on Monday, fell on her left hip, slid down and spun around and was also DQ'ed.

Only skiers who complete the first run get a chance to go in the second run, scheduled for later Monday.