Slovenian skier Drev leads women's WCup GS after 1st run
LIENZ, Austria (AP) Slovenian skier Ana Drev posted the fastest time in the opening run to lead the pre-race favorites at a women's World Cup giant slalom on Monday, while Lindsey Vonn failed to finish.
Drev, who placed a career-best seventh in Courchevel last week, clocked 1 minute, 1.72 seconds on the Schlossberg course to edge overall World Cup leader Lara Gut of Switzerland by 0.02.
Eva-Maria Brem of Austria, who leads the GS standings, was 0.06 back in third. Liechtenstein's Tina Weirather and Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg came fourth and fifth, respectively.
''This is a big Christmas gift, but we still have a run,'' said Drev, who has three top-10 finishes in 121 World Cup starts. ''My equipment is very good. I've been training well in Alta Badia lately and now everything is coming together.''
Gut, who hasn't score World Cup points in four starts here since 2007, looked set to extend her 58-point lead over Vonn in the overall standings.
Trailing then leader Gut by 0.12, the American went too wide on a left turn about 45 seconds into her run and failed to make the next gate.
''I gave my best and was skiing well. I was fast,'' said Vonn, adding she was hampered by a cold. ''I approached that gate too straight and didn't have the energy anymore to correct it.''
Skipping Tuesday's slalom here, Vonn said she will fly home to the United States and return to Europe for Jan. 9-10 speed races.
These events were initially planned for St. Anton but have been canceled because of a lack of snow in the Austrian resort. The international ski federation was expected to announce a replacement later Monday.
