Sara Hector ends near 2-year drought, taking women's giant slalom over Mikaela Shiffrin

In a race overshadowed by a season-ending knee injury for home favourite Petra Vlhova following a crash, Olympic champion Sara Hector dominated an eventful women's World Cup giant slalom Saturday for her first win in nearly two years.

Hector posted the fastest time in each of two runs, the second in one minute 7.62 seconds, to beat American star Mikaela Shiffrin by 1.52 seconds with a 2:17.80 combined time in Jasna, Slovakia. New Zealand's Alice Robinson trailed by 2.71 in third (2:20.51).

It was the biggest winning margin in a women's GS in 20 years, since Swedish great Anja Paerson beat runner-up Tina Maze of Slovenia by 1.98 at a race in Germany.

Vlhova tore ligaments in her right knee, her team said, when she crashed and slid into the safety netting.

"I'm positive I can handle the situation," Vlhova said in a statement released by her team. "I will fight for the earliest possible comeback."

Racing in front of 10,000 spectators in Jasna, a resort about 17 kilometres from her hometown of Liptovsky Mikulas in the Tatra mountains, Vlhova lost balance in a left turn 14 seconds into her run.

The Olympic slalom champion adjusted her position and initially avoided a fall but then leaned backward and went down sideways before sliding into the safety fencing.

2nd in overall season standings

With their rivalry going on for years, Vlhova once more was Shiffrin's closest challenger in the slalom standings this season. Combined they won all seven races so far, with the American star triumphing four times, most recently at a night race in Austria last Tuesday.

Vlhova is also runner-up to Shiffrin in the overall standings, trailing the American by 307 points. But having reduced her schedule to only slalom and GS this season, Vlhova didn't consider herself a contender for the overall title.

Hector, in her typical all-or-nothing style, Hector sped down the course in two near-flawless runs on Saturday.

"It's so amazing. Snow was perfect, amazing race. This morning I was nervous, I had a lot of thinking lately but today was just crazy," said the Swede, who earned her fifth career World Cup win but first since triumphing in a GS in Italy two years ago, which was her last race before winning Olympic gold in Beijing.

Hector carried a lead of one second over Shiffrin into her final run and extended that advantage at almost every checkpoint.

In a finish area interview right after the race, Hector addressed the many Slovakian fans.

"That's amazing that they stayed. I feel so bad for Petra, but you are a great crowd," Hector said.

GS standout Brignone unhurt after fall

Val Grenier of St-Isidore, Ont., was the lone Canadian in the racing, placing 11th of 29 finishers in 2:23.85 after shaving nearly six seconds off her opening run of 1:14.77.

The slippery ice surface in combination with an unusually turning set of the gates on the Lukova 2 course caused problems in the opening run for many racers.

Federica Brignone, who led the GS standings entering the competition, opened the race but slipped and fell after the fourth gate. The Italian skier was unhurt.

Lara Gut-Behrami finished the race 4.49 behind in sixth and went to the top of the discipline standings, 25 points clear of Brignone. Shiffrin is third, 56 points behind the Swiss leader.

Before the race, Vlhova and Brignone were ranked second and third, respectively, in the overall standings, led by Shiffrin. The American is aiming to match the women's record of six overall World Cup titles.

"I think that with this kind of surface, you have to feel 100 per cent confident," said Shiffrin, adding even a small mistake "takes so much time away."

Shiffrin called the course set in the first run "very turning" and acknowledged Hector's near-flawless run.

"She did obviously a spectacular job the first run. I felt very good," Shiffrin said.

The margins in the final standings were remarkable, as Croatian skier Zrinka Ljutic finished fourth with a huge deficit of 4.33 seconds. And finishing a massive seven seconds off the lead was still good enough for a top-20 result.A slalom on Sunday wraps up the race weekend in Slovakia.