Tessa Worley wins women's World Cup giant slalom title after Shiffrin fades
The Associated Press | Posted: March 20, 2022 12:33 PM | Last Updated: March 20, 2022
Federica Brignone wins race over Bassino; Canada's Val Grenier ties for 9th
Mikaela Shiffrin's standout World Cup season ended by letting the giant slalom title slip away to Tessa Worley on Sunday in Méribel, France.
As the final racer of the women's season, Shiffrin was the first-run leader with a 0.82-second advantage needing to win the race to clinch an unlikely victory in the giant slalom standings.
Instead, Shiffrin's time was the slowest of the 24 second-run finishers and she placed seventh in a two-run time of two minutes 15.35 seconds, 0.67 behind race winner Federica Brignone (2:14.68).
That opened the door for Worley and the 50 points she earned for placing fourth to end atop the giant slalom standings.
Val Grenier of St. Isidore, Ont., finished inside the top 10, tying Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland for ninth in 2:15.56 and placing 12th in the overall season standings.
WATCH | Grenier ties for 9th in Méribel, France:
"I want to keep building on the progress I've made this season," she told Alpine Canada. "The fact that I finished in the top 15 is super encouraging and will be helpful to get closer to a podium."
'I really solidified my skiing' this season
Since a 2019 crash, Grenier has returned to the snow stronger and intends to add super-G back into her training and event schedule next year.
"My goals are to definitely podium in GS next season," she said, "and I'm also very excited about super-G. I'm looking forward to training it a lot this summer and being back 100% next year.
"I think what went well this year is the fact that I really solidified my skiing. I feel stronger and more in control of my skis, which makes it easier to ski the line I want to."
Sunday started with Sara Hector favoured to add the World Cup giant slalom title to her Olympic gold medal, but the Swedish racer could place only 14th.
At age 32, Worley's win was her first major title or medal for five years in her specialist event. She won the World Cup title and a world championships gold medal in 2017.
Shiffrin ends the season with the biggest prize in the sport — the overall World Cup title she sealed Thursday at the World Cup Finals meeting in the French Alps.
WATCH | Brignone tops teammate Bassino for race win:
She raced Sunday with a ribbon in the yellow and blue colours of Ukraine's flag attached to her helmet.
Brignone, the 2020 overall champion, won the race 0.31 ahead of her Italian teammate Marta Bassino. Petra Vlhova, who lost her overall title to Shiffrin this week, was third Sunday, 0.37 back.