The American celebrated her 70th World Cup victory. Gut-Behrami and Vlhova followed in the squares.
Mikaela Shiffrin won the Alpine Ski World Cup opener on Saturday. The US-American prevailed in the giant slalom on the Rettenbach glacier in Sölden with 0.14 seconds ahead of world champion Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI). Third was overall World Cup winner Petra Vlkova (SVK / + 1.30). For Shiffrin it was the 70th World Cup victory. Katharina Liensberger narrowly missed the podium in fourth, Stephanie Brunner dropped from third place to 17th.
Shiffrin started optimally in the fight for her fourth overall World Cup victory, her arguably fiercest rivals had to line up behind them on Saturday. The Austrians missed the first Sölden podium since the 2014 victory by Anna Veith. It was, of course, a reparation after 2020, when Katharina Truppe came in 15th, Brunner 17th and Ramona Siebenhofer 19th. Siebenhofer improved from position 20 to 10.
False start for defending champion
With Marta Bassino, the Sölden winner and ball winner last season was eliminated in the first round.
After a minute's silence for the late ex-FIS President Gian Franco Kasper and in front of the new Johan Eliasch, the audience celebrated a comeback on the Rettenbachferner. Including the day ski guests on the slopes, 9,000 fans were present.
