Olympic champ Sara Hector wins World Cup giant slalom as leader Federica Brignone falls

KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia (AP) — Olympic champion Sara Hector won her second women’s World Cup giant slalom of the season on Saturday as Italian skier Federica Brignone fell in the first run.

Hector, who was fastest in the first run, finished 1.42 seconds ahead of the 18-year-old Lara Colturi of Albania, to move atop both the GS and overall standings.

The 34-year-old Brignone’s hopes of extending her lead in the GS standings ended when she fell in her first race since becoming the oldest race winner in women’s World Cup history at Semmering in Austria last weekend.

Hector, who won the second race of the season in Killington in November, was second in Semmering. She leads the GS standings with 296 points after four races, 96 ahead of Brignone, while she moved top of the overall leaderboard on 407 points, 24 ahead of Switzerland’s Camille Rast.

In the absence of the injured Mikaela Shiffrin, AJ Hurt was the leading American racer in Kranjska Gora, 2.73 behind Hector in 10th, ahead of teammate Nina O’Brien.

Lindsey Vonn, who made her return to World Cup racing in Switzerland on Dec. 21 after nearly six years of retirement, only competes in the speed events of downhill and super-G. She’s due to race again next weekend in St. Anton, Austria.

___

AP skiing:

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}