Sawt Falasteen - Shiffrin out, Brignone ready to take on giant slalom tyros

The American withdrew, citing symptoms like post-traumatic stress disorder related to injuries she sustained in a nasty crash early in the season.

In her absence, there are a raft of tyros in waiting, while Italian veteran Federica Brignone and Sweden's Sara Hector carry the cards for the older generation.

AFP Sports looks at five things ahead of the giant slalom at the Austrian resort:

- Shiffrin opts out -

Shiffrin is the defending champion, but will not go for back-to-back titles.

The 29-year-old American sustained n abdominal puncture wound in a crash in Killington in November.

It left her, she said, with a mental block on racing the giant slalom.

Shiffrin did, however, compete in the slalom section of Tuesday's team combined, winning a record-equalling 15th world medal as she and Breezy Johnson took gold.

"I just haven't been able to overcome some of those psychological challenges from the crash and the injury," Shiffrin said of the giant slalom.

"I just haven't been able to fully overcome those in GS to be able to produce skiing that's good enough to race World Cup GS races."

- Colturi carries Albanian hopes-

The daughter of Italian Olympic champion Daniela Ceccarelli, Colturi competes for Albania after falling out with the Italian federation.

She may only be 18 years of age, but Colturi is already in her third World Cup season although she insists on not looking too far ahead.

"I'm using these first years mainly to experiment, to understand what I need, and whatever I don't need, I discard: no stress, just for fun. Then, whatever comes, comes," she said.

Colturi, born in Turin, admitted there was always a thought about next year's Winter Olympics in Milan/Cortina d'Ampezzo.

"But right now, I don’t want to think too far ahead. We're one year away, but I'll try to stay more focused on the present and set small goals."

- In-form Robinson -

Alice Robinson, who tops the World Cup GS standings, made her Olympic debut at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games as a fresh-faced 16-year-old.

Currently in her eighth year on the circuit, the now 23-year-old is seemingly ready to cash in on her obvious talent.

After five podium places in the giant slalom last season, Robinson has already notched up four more this year and touched down in Saalbach on the back of victory in Kronplatz -- her first since March 2021.

"There were for sure some times in those four years when I wasn't sure that I was going to win again but to be back and winning here is just so special," said Robinson, who finished 11th in the super-G last week.

Her best result at a world championships was fourth in the giant slalom in Cortina in 2021, but she looks in a position to improve on that showing.

- Hector, Brignone lurk -

Hector, 32, and Brignone, 34, are second and third in the World Cup giant slalom standings.

Hector won Olympic gold in Beijing ahead of Brignone in 2022, with Switzerland's Lara Gut-Behrami, 33, taking bronze.

Brignone, who also claimed world silver in Meribel at the 2023 worlds behind Shiffrin, goes into the race having claimed super-G silver in Saalbach before finishing 10th in the downhill.

- Second technical event -

Giant slalom demands that skiers pass through a series of gates not as close to each other as the slalom but not as far apart as the super-G.

The number of gates for women is between 46-58, with an altitude drop of 300-400m.

The discipline is raced over two runs on the same slope, with the starting order for the second run dependant on results from the first run: the skier placed 30th will start, with the leader running last.

Skiers do not have the chance of a pre-race training run, only a one-hour visual inspection on the morning of the race.

T.Samara--SF-PST