Alpine Skiing-Imperious Hector wins women's giant slalom

Swede Sara Hector clinched the women's giant slalom in emphatic fashion after a pair of flawless runs on an icy course left her a massive 0.96 seconds ahead of second-placed Tessa Worley of France on Saturday.

Third-placed Italian Marta Bassino was 1.32 seconds off the pace while overall World Cup leader Mikaela Shiffrin finished seventh after a poor first run had left her 14th. Last season's overall champion Petra Vlhova had an even more forgettable day as she finished 15th, allowing Shiffrin to increase her lead in the overall standings.

Shiffrin, who will head into Sunday's slalom at the same venue aiming to set a record for most wins in a single discipline, is top on 866 points ahead of Vlhova who has 731. If she wins the slalom, Shiffrin will eclipse Ingemar Stenmark as she is tied with the former Swedish great who won 46 giant slaloms during his 1974-1989 career.

Hector leads the giant slalom standings with 362 points, followed by Shiffrin on 316 and third-placed Worley who has 307. Hector, who celebrated her third overall World Cup win, was delighted after brushing the field aside.

"It's incredible, we've been working so hard for a long time and it's amazing," she told Eurosport. "I felt really good out there but I am still in a bit of a shock." The second run, taking place in reverse order, saw lower-placed racers benefit as Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami jumped from 18th to fifth and Canada's Valerie Grenier leapt from eighth to fourth, but the top three held their nerve and ranking.

Bassino pipped Grenier by 0.07 seconds before Worley took the driving seat, but both were blown away by Hector whose aggressive and risky approach paid dividends. The race was interrupted for 20 minutes in the closing stages of the first run after German Paulina Schlosser, who came out of the block 55th from 60 racers, suffered a heavy crash and was lifted off the course on a stretcher.

Schlosser's right leg twisted after she lost her balance in the opening few turns and the 20-year-old whipped across the treacherous course before stewards and an ambulance rushed to her aid. (Writing by Zoran Milosavljevic; Additional reporting by Boris Zivulovc; Editing by Toby Chopra and Ken Ferris)

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