Brignone copes with poor snow to win Super G

BAD KLEINKIRCHHEIM, Austria: Italian Federica Brignone limited her errors on a tricky piste and difficult snow to win the Super G in Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria, for her seventh World Cup victory on Saturday.

Brignone finished in 1min 9.80sec to beat Swiss skier Lara Gut by 0.18sec and Austrian Cornelia Huetter by 0.46sec. After an autumn ruined by a groin injury, Brignone, 27, is coming into form ahead of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang on February 9-25.

“It was tough and I am very proud,” said Brignone, who won the giant slalom in Lienz in Austria on December 29.

Her experience in the shorter, more technical, discipline helped her on Saturday in a race interrupted several times to allow the surface, which had deteriorated in recent warm weather, to be repaired with water and salt.

“It was difficult to really attack and stay on track. I did not feel I was doing well during the run and I really thought it was not good,” Brignone said.