Italian skier Federica Brignone takes narrow super-G victory to extend overall World Cup lead

KVITFJELL, Norway (AP) — Federica Brignone won an eventful women’s World Cup super-G on Sunday as the Italian skier capped a three-race weekend that extended her lead in the overall standings.

In a tight finish, Brignone was 0.06 seconds faster than defending overall champion Lara Gut-Behrami.

“When I came down, I said: ‘No, no, no.’ I had too many mistakes. I thought it was makable (to be) better than me,” Brignone said. “It was very difficult. I had not a good feeling, I had not a perfect run. But no one had. I tried a lot and risked a lot.”

Brignone also finished ahead of her Swiss rival by placing fifth and fourth, respectively, in two downhills earlier in the weekend.

“This is like the cherry on the cake. It’s been an amazing weekend. Today I’m a bit lucky with the hundredths,” Brignone said.

Gut-Behrami seemed on course for victory but the Swiss star came wide in a turn and skied through soft snow halfway down her run. Gut-Behrami dropped six-tenths behind Brignone’s split time but almost made up the deficit with a strong finish.

“It happens all the time this season. I’m skiing well but keep making those mistakes,” Gut-Behrami said.

Brignone’s teammate Sofia Goggia was 0.09 behind in third and Alice Robinson of New Zealand trailed by 0.22 in fourth.

Lindsey Vonn finished 1.11 seconds off the lead in 16th after what started as a promising run.

The American standout was level with Brignone at her first intermediate time and just 0.13 behind the Italian halfway through her run.

Vonn then caught a bump in a left turn and was thrown off the race line but managed to stay on the course.

Vonn, the record holder with 28 career super-G wins, made her comeback this season at the age of 40 with a new titanium knee after six years away from racing.

Brignone’s 35th career World Cup win helped the Italian extend her lead over Gut-Behrami in the overall standing to 251 points with seven races left. A race win is worth 100 points.

However, the Swiss star remained top of the super-G standings, 55 points clear of Brignone.

Three super-G races are still scheduled, including two in Italy in two weeks’ time.

“La Thuile is my home. All my friends will be there, it’s only 20 minutes from where I live,” Brignone said. “Just trying to keep the sped and the risk, this is the only way to go to the end of the season.”

Gut-Behrami refrained from looking at the cup standings yet.

“If you start counting points now, you have already lost,” she said.

On a crisp clear day, a difficult course set caused problems mainly for the early starters, especially in the Tommy Moe turn, named after the American 1994 Olympic downhill champion with Norwegian ancestry.

Three of the first four racers skied out, including Emma Aicher, the German prodigy who earned her maiden World Cup victory in Saturday’s downhill.

Lauren Macuga, the American racer who was runner-up to Aicher in the downhill, finished 0.84 behind Brignone in 12th position.

Super-G world champion Stephanie Venier was 0.39 behind in eighth after the Austrian sat out the downhills the last two days to recover from illness.

The women’s World Cup continues with two tech races in Are, Sweden next week.

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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing