Brignone upsets favorites to win giant slalom in Lienz

[January 16, 2018]    LIENZ, Austria (Reuters) - Italian Federica Brignone upset favorites Mikaela Shiffrin and Viktoria Rebensburg to win the women's giant slalom World Cup race at Lienz on Friday.

Italy's Federica Brignone reacts during the Women's Alpine Skiing World Cup REUTERS/Robert Pratta

Rebensburg led after the first run with Shiffrin second while Brignone was fourth but the 27-year-old overhauled both on the second leg to win by 0.04 seconds from Rebensburg and claim the sixth World Cup win of her career.

Shiffrin, winner of Thursday's slalom at the same venue, was third, a further 0.04 seconds behind Rebensburg.

Titleholder Shiffrin retained a commanding lead in the overall World Cup standings on 881 points, with Rebensburg second on 510 and Slovakia's Petra Vlhova third on 385.

(Writing by Brian Homewood; Editing by Christian Radnedge)

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