Olympic GS champion Hector leads 1st run of last GS before Milan Cortina Games. Shiffrin 4th

By Canadian Press on January 24, 2026.

SPINDLERUV MLYN, Czechia (AP) — Sara Hector led the opening run of a women’s World Cup giant slalom Saturday, the last race in the discipline before the Swedish skier defends her Olympic title next month.

Hector edged out Camille Rast of Switzerland by 0.02 seconds, with GS rankings leader Julia Scheib of Austria 0.26 back in third.

Mikaela Shiffrin, on a course set by her coach Karin Harjo, was among the fastest starters and the overall World Cup leader finished 0.43 behind in fourth, with American teammate Paula Moltzan one-tenth further back in fifth.

Nina O’Brien in seventh and AJ Hurt in 12th completed a strong showing by the U.S. team.

Time differences were big, as 10th-ranked Emma Aicher of Germany had already more than two seconds to make up in the final run later Saturday.

The top four after the opening run was identical to the first-leg result of the previous GS, in Italy last Tuesday. Scheib ultimately won that race, ahead of Rast, Hector and Shiffrin, respectively.

Overall World Cup champion Federica Brignone, who made a strong return to racing from a nine-month injury layoff on Tuesday, and her Italian teammate Sofia Goggia, the 2018 Olympic downhill champion, sat out the event in Czechia, with a weekend of speed racing coming up in Switzerland next week ahead of their home Milan Cortina Olympics.

Scheib has won four races this season to lead Rast by 139 points in the standings, giving her an outside chance to lock up the GS title on Saturday with two races remaining after the Olympics.

Scheib would become the first Austrian skier to do so since Eva-Maria Brem won it 10 years ago.

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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing

The Associated Press