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01/20 05:11 CST Defending Olympic champion Hector leads 1st run of giant slalom with Brignone 7th on injury return Defending Olympic champion Hector leads 1st run of giant slalom with Brignone 7th on injury return SAN VIGILIO DI MAREBBE, Italy (AP) --- Swedish skier Sara Hector showed she intends to retain her Olympic title next month by leading the opening run of a World Cup giant slalom Tuesday. Defending overall World Cup champion Federica Brignone also had a solid performance in her return from a long injury layoff. And Mikaela Shiffrin showed progress toward regaining her giant slalom, form, too. Hector led Camille Rast of Switzerland by 0.15 seconds on the steep Erta course at the Kronplatz resort, with Julia Scheib of Austria third, 0.39 behind. The last of Hector's seven World Cup wins --- all in giant slalom --- came last January. Shiffrin stood fourth, 0.89 back, despite a significant error midway down. Shiffrin, the American winner of a record 107 World Cup races, has not finished on the podium in giant slalom in exactly two years --- since before her crash in Killington, Vermont, in Nov. 2024. Shiffrin has won the Kronplatz race three times, including in 2023 when with victory No. 83 she broke the all-time women's wins record previously held by Lindsey Vonn. Brignone was seventh, 1.18 behind, in her first race since breaking multiple bones in her left leg in April --- which resulted in two surgeries and months of rehab. "When I stuck my poles out I said to myself, ?I'm not sure if I'm ready.' My hand was shaking," Brignone said. "I started off quite rigid, which makes it tough in these conditions. But then I remembered to breathe after the first checkpoint and then it went a bit better." Brignone is hoping to compete for host Italy at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, which open Feb. 6 with the women skiing in nearby Cortina d'Ampezzo. Sofia Goggia, another Italian, lost control midway down and didn't finish her run. ___ AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

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