Federica Brignone opens World Championships with brilliant combined victory as Mikaela Shiffrin misses out

ByPete Sharland

Updated 06/02/2023 at 16:13 GMT

It was a brilliant day for Italy's Federica Brignone as she kicked off the 2023 World Championships in style by putting in a hugely impressive display to take the gold medal in the combined, the first event of the championships. Her big rival for the gold, Mikaela Shiffrin, looked solid in the super-G run but she straddled in the slalom run, costing herself a huge chance of gold.

Italy’s Federica Brignone opened up the 2023 Alpine World Ski Championships with a brilliant victory in the combined, but it was a brutal day for American superstar Mikaela Shiffrin.

Brignone stormed to top spot with a fantastic run in the super-G and then confounded the critics to put down an equally fast run in the slalom.

Her overall time ended up at 1:57.47. No other skier could go quicker than 1:59.

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The skier who came closest was Wendy Holdener, who put down the quickest slalom run to take silver, with Ricarda Haaser rounding off the podium.

But gold could well have gone to Shiffrin, who straddled just a few gates from the finish when her speed suggested that victory was certainly possible.

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"She has blown it three gates from home!” Nick Fellows exclaimed on Eurosport commentary.

“That is such a dramatic moment for Shiffrin. She can't believe it, and neither can we! She had done all the work and made all the time - the gold medal was three turns away and she straddles!"

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Brignone soars in super-G run

Franziska Gritsch of Austria was the surprise early leader in the super-G with Sofia Goggia using the run to get some skiing in her legs, having already confirmed that she would not do the slalom run later.

However Gritsch was taken out by compatriot Ramona Siebenhofer, who went 0.17s clear. Shiffrin finished 0.06 behind the Austrian.

Shiffrin says 'only chance for gold was to take all of the risk' after late error

But Brignone then blew away the competition with a blistering time of 1:10.28, with only Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel and Elena Curtoni able to get close. In the penultimate run Lara Gut-Behrami flew down the track to go level with Mowinckel in second place after the first run.

'Taking the race to Shiffrin!' - Brignone leads combined after flying super-G run

The men will take their turn in the combined on Tuesday.

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Stream the 2022-23 Alpine World Ski Championships live on Eurosport and discovery+

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