SOELDEN, Austria (AP) — Lara Gut of Switzerland held a commanding lead after the first run of the season-opening women’s World Cup giant slalom on Saturday while favorites Tina Maze of Slovenia and Tessa Worley of France struggled.
Gut clocked 1 minute, 9.26 seconds on the Rettenbach glacier to put herself in contention for her fourth career victory and first in GS.
Maze, the defending overall World Cup champion who won here last year, came 2.16 behind and world champion Worley finished 3.10 off the lead.
Only two racers came within a second of Gut — Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany was 0.77 back in second and Anna Fenninger of Austria trailed Gut by 0.83.
Four-time overall champion Lindsey Vonn skipped the race and will start her season next month after recovering from knee surgery.
