Competing for Bulgaria, Annina Zurbriggen failed to finish the first run of the women's giant slalom at the 2026 Winter Olympics. The 22-year-old skier, born in Switzerland and with a Bulgarian mother, started with number 45 in her Winter Olympics debut, but missed a gate at the bottom of the “Olimpia delle Tofane“ course. in Cortina d'Ampezzo and dropped out of the competition, BTA reports.
Zurbriggen is the only Bulgarian representative in the women's alpine disciplines, and on February 18 she will also participate in the slalom.
After the first run, the world champion and Olympic vice-champion of the 2022 Winter Olympics Federica Brignone is in the lead. The 35-year-old Italian, who three days ago also triumphed in the super-G slalom on home soil, recorded a time of 1:03.23 minutes and led by a lead of 34 hundredths of a second ahead of Lena Dür (Germany), the winner of Olympic silver in the parallel mixed team competition from Beijing 2022.
Third at 46 hundredths is another representative of the hosts – Sofia Goja, Olympic champion in downhill from the 2018 Winter Olympics, who already has a bronze from the downhill on February 8.
Defending champion Sarah Hector shares fourth place, 74 hundredths of a second from the lead, with Lara Colturi and Thea Louis Stiernesund.
Olympic champion in giant slalom from Pyeongchang 2018 and world champion from Courchevel 2023 Mikaela Shiffrin is in seventh place, 1.02 seconds behind. The second run starts at 2:30 p.m.