Bassino holds off 2-time world champ for 3rd women's giant slalom win of season
Shiffrin 7th, Grenier 16th, fellow Canadian Gray doesn't finish in World Cup debut
Marta Bassino held on to her first-run lead to win a women's World Cup giant slalom by a big margin on Saturday, earning her third victory this season.
The Italian coped best with tough course conditions as she held off a challenge by Tessa Worley in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.
Worley, the two-time GS world champion from France, was fastest in the final run but still came up eight-tenths of a second short of Bassino, who clocked a two-run time of two minutes 11.90 seconds.
Michelle Gisin was 1.46 behind in third (2:13.36) for the Swiss skier's first podium in GS.
WATCH | Marta Bassino captures giant slalom in Slovenia:
Val Grenier of St. Isidore, Ont., was top Canadian, tying for 16th (2:16.47) while University of Colorado student Cassidy Gray of Panorama, B.C. went 1:07.21 in her first run but didn't finish.
Petra Vlhova was fourth and remained in the lead of the overall standings.
U.S. skier ruled out after positive test
Mikaela Shiffrin, who was fourth after the opening run, dropped to sixth. The Olympic champion trailed Bassino by 2.18 seconds.
The American is the only skier other than Bassino to win a GS this season, in Courchevel, France in December. That result marked the three-time overall champion's first win since returning from a 10-month break from racing in 2020.
Shiffrin's American teammate, Paula Moltzan, tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday and was ruled out for both races this weekend.
The U.S. ski team said, "ongoing testing" of its skiers and staff "resulted in no other positive cases."
Moved from Maribor because of a lack of snow, the race took place at a resort which is an annual stop on the men's circuit.
Another GS on the same Podkoren course is scheduled for Sunday.
With files from CBC Sports
