Italian skier gets second GS win, Shriffin finishes sixth

KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia (AP) — Marta Bassino won her second World Cup giant slalom in two days Sunday after first-run leader Mikaela Shiffrin dropped to sixth.

The Italian skier has won four of the five races in the discipline this season, with Shiffrin winning the only other event, in Courchevel in December.

“It's so amazing, I am so emotional. It's like a dream, I can't believe it,” Bassino said while fighting back tears in a TV interview.

The result saw Bassino closing in on a 13-year-old record: No Italian skier won more than four giant slaloms in a single season since Denise Karbon won a record five events in the 2007-08 campaign.

Bassino trailed Shiffrin by three-tenths of a second after the American's near-perfect opening run, but the Italian posted the fastest time in the final.

The last racer on course, Shiffrin was still in the lead at the first split time. However, the Olympic GS champion was late on a turn after the first steep part, lost speed and never regained her rhythm.

Shiffrin finished 1.27 back in sixth, equaling her result in Saturday's race.

Bassino won the race 0.66 ahead of Michelle Gisin, a day after the Swiss skier earned her first career podium in GS.

Local favorite Meta Hrovat, daughter of the village's mayor, Janez Hrovat, finished third, 0.73 off the lead.

The rest of the field trailed Bassino by more than a second.

Before posting the 15th-fastest time in the final run, Shiffrin said she had done “a lot of analysis” after Saturday's race.