Fenninger Leads After 1st Run Of Giant Slalom At Worlds

BEAVER CREEK, Colo. (AP) — Anna Fenninger of Austria has a comfortable cushion after the first run of the women's giant slalom at the world championships Thursday, while Americans Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn are well back.

Fenninger finished in 1 minute, 8.98 seconds and holds a 0.81-second advantage over teammate Michaela Kirchgasser. Sweden's Jessica Lindell-Vikarby trails by 0.90 seconds heading into the afternoon run.

Slovenia's Tina Maze is fourth as she tries to win a fourth medal at Beaver Creek. She's attempting to match Norway skiing great Lasse Kjus, who earned a medal in all five disciplines at the 1999 worlds in Beaver Creek.

Shiffrin was steady but not spectacular in her opening run and is 1.72 seconds behind Fenninger, who won the super-G in the opening event of the championships. The 19-year-old Shiffrin insisted nerves didn't play a role as she raced in front of the hometown crowd.

"I feel like my skiing right now is way better than that (run) was," said Shiffrin, who's from nearby Eagle-Vail. "That was my old skiing coming out, because I wasn't sure of myself."

Vonn made several mistakes and wound up 2.67 seconds behind as her boyfriend, golfer Tiger Woods, watched from the sideline.

After finishing, Vonn gave the crowd a what-can-you-do sort of shrug and then waved. She later gave Woods a kiss.

"These world championships just haven't really gone the way I had hoped and dreamed that they would," said Vonn, whose lone medal was a bronze in the super-G. "But I fought my way down. I never gave up and I'm still in it for a second run."

Vonn said the icy and bumpy course at Beaver Creek has given her surgically repaired right knee some difficulty.

"I did my best to overcome that, but it's hard, having been injured for so long and trying to compete on a surface that is very unfamiliar at this point," Vonn said. "Unfortunately, I didn't get as many medals as I had hoped, but one is still something to be proud of."

There were several big names who struggled with the technical course layout and didn't finish, including Eva-Maria Brem of Austria and Lara Gut of Switzerland.

"That's GS," Gut said. "You have to risk everything."

And with that, Gut's world championships were complete. She departs with a bronze medal in the downhill.

"Coming here, everybody knew on this slope I could be really fast. I was fast sometime, but not enough," Gut said. "I think I could've done more, but in the end, you need luck. You need everything."

Switzerland's Dominique Gisin made a quick recovery after cracking the tibia bone in her right knee last month and was in the start house for the GS. Gisin, who tied with Maze for the Olympic gold at the 2014 Sochi Games, was 2.59 seconds behind Fenninger.

"It feels fine," Gisin said of her knee. "I just didn't have the courage that it takes. ... I really tried to get back to a place where I can charge."

By Pat Graham, AP Sports Writer