Alpine skiing - Shiffrin, Italians take charge in women's combined

I tried to push hard and I found a good line." Czech Ester Ledecka clocked fourth and Michelle Gisin finished fifth to keep alive Switzerland's bid to win a third gold medal of the championship.

Host nation Italy put themselves in the driving seat for a first podium finish in the Alpine skiing world championship after Federica Brignone and Elena Curtoni topped the first leg of the women's combined event on Monday. Brignone clinched the Super-G leg of the event 0.01 seconds ahead of compatriot Curtoni, with trophy-laden American Mikaela Shiffrin coming in third 0.06 seconds off the pace before the afternoon's slalom.

The outcome set the stage for a mouth-watering finale, with Shiffrin in a promising position to clinch gold after winning the Super-G bronze medal on Thursday. The two-time Olympic gold medallist from Vail, Colorado, is as proficient in slalom as she is in speed events and will look forward to the challenge.

Brignone acknowledged she faced a tough task to hold on to pole position. "It will be a very hard and icy slalom race track and it will only favour Shiffrin," she told Eurosport. "It was good to see the green light in the finish area though. I tried to push hard and I found a good line."

Czech Ester Ledecka clocked fourth and Michelle Gisin finished fifth to keep alive Switzerland's bid to win a third gold medal of the championship. Gisin's compatriot Corinne Suter won the women's downhill and Lara-Gut Behrami followed in her footsteps with a Super-G triumph to underline Switzerland's domination of the women's events.