Today, Federica Brignone secured her second win in Soelden. Racing on the Rettenbach glacier for the 14th time, she has landed on the podium five times (1st in 2015 and 2024; 2nd in 2018, 2020, and 2023).
In front of 15,800 spectators on a spectacular race day, Brignone clinched her 28th Alpine Ski World Cup triumph, marking the 13th Giant Slalom win of her career. The only Italian to have won more than 28 World Cup events is ski legend Alberto Tomba (50).
The Italian skier finished with a lead of 0.17 seconds over Alice Robinson, while Julia Scheib completed the podium 1.08 seconds behind Brignone. At the age of 34 years, three months, and twelve days, Brignone replaced Elisabeth Görgl as the oldest World Cup winner.
"It's unbelievable, I didn't expect it. The second run was already good and I gave it my all. I'm over the moon. It was an extraordinary summer with very good preparation, I'll keep working hard and try to keep having fun," said Brignone, who celebrated her first World Cup victory in Soelden in 2015.
Alice Robinson finished in second place, her second podium in Soelden. On 26 October 2019, Alice Robinson won the women's World Cup Giant Slalom event in Soelden at age 17. She became the youngest winner of a World Cup event since Mikaela Shiffrin, who was also 17 years old when she won her first World Cup event in Åre in December 2012. Robinson has finished on the podium 11 times.
"It's definitely gonna be a goal to get back to winning a race. But I mean I can't really complain, starting a year off with the podium is always great. I always struggled a little bit when the conditions were like they were in the second run, quite bumpy and really a lot of moisture in the snow. So, I was really happy that I kept really solid and skated decent run, and that kept me in a position for a podium," Robinson said.
Today in Soelden, Austrian skier Julia Scheib secured her maiden individual Alpine Ski World Cup podium finish. Before this achievement, her top performances included placing fifth in Saalbach in March 2024 and Lienz in December 2023.
The Austrian set the second-best time in the second run to catapult herself from 14th to third place. Scheib achieved the first Giant Slalom podium for Austria since Katharina Liensberger finished in third place in Lienz on December 28, 2019.
"The first podium place feels really great, especially next to Federica and Alice. It's super cool. But I would have been very happy with fourth place after this first run," Scheib said.
Big favorite Mikaela Shiffrin and first-run leader finished in 5th position and failed to finish on the podium.
Last season's winner on the Rettenbach glacier Lara Gut-Behrami did not start today in Soelden. The 33-year-old from Ticino announced her decision to not race in the Alpine Ski World Cup season opener after the slope inspection in the morning. "I just don't feel 100 percent fit (...) It's hard not to start. Because I love this race, but I can't afford to take any risks," she said with a shaky voice and tears in her eyes in an interview with SRF.
The last-minute decision to forego the first race of the season was clearly difficult for Gut-Behrami. The Swiss skier hopes that she will be 100 percent fit again for the second Giant Slalom of the winter in Killington at the end of November.
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