(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
AFP
Kranjska Gora, Slovenia: Olympic champion Sara Hector dominated the women's World Cup giant slalom in Kranjska Gora on Saturday.
The Swede clocked a combined time of 1min 54.86sec over the two runs down the Podkoren 3 slope to finish a massive 1.42sec ahead of Italy-born teenager Lara Colturi, who races for Albania.
The victory, Hector's second of the season and seventh of her career, saw the 32-year-old go top of the overall standings on 407 points, 24pts ahead of Switzerland's Camille Rast.
New Zealand's Alice Robinson rounded out the podium in the Slovenian resort, a further 0.10sec adrift.
Austria's Julia Scheib had laid down the fastest second run from equal 13th, but could only finish fourth.
It was a fine win on a hard, icy piste for Hector, who has spent much of the week in her sickbed.
"These conditions really fit me very well," acknowledged the Swede.
"I couldn't believe it this morning that this could happen.
"I was resting a lot this week, so maybe it helped a little bit. When you have been training a lot, resting is a good recipe."
Colturi, daughter of Italy's 2002 Olympic super-G champion Daniela Ceccarelli, said it was "amazing" to have bagged her second World Cup podium, her first in giant slalom, and the first in GS for Albania.
"I was feeling really confident in myself in the last week and finally I've made two really good runs," the 18-year-old said.
Switzerland's Lara Gut-Behrami, who topped the discipline standings last season, finished sixth, more than 2sec off Hector.
Racers will go again on Sunday in a slalom, still without the injured Mikaela Shiffrin, who said she was aiming to be on the pistes "in the next week or so" without giving a date for a return to competition.
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