Alpine skiing-Shiffrin crashes out of giant slalom

YANQING, China :Defending Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin crashed out of the women's giant slalom during her first run at the Beijing Winter Games on Monday, the American's skis sliding out from under her as pushed into the turns coming down the "The Ice River" course.

The 26-year-old, who came out seventh, did not appear injured after the slip caused her to miss a gate. She got back on her skis and made her way slowly down the rest of the course at the Yanqing Alpine Centre.

"It's a huge disappointment," Shiffrin said.

"Anytime you go on the side like that it's just like mis-timing where and how you're pressuring the turn. I was pushing. I felt that I was really pushing in those turns.

"It's hard to know how it would have gone the rest of the run ... the day was finished basically before it even started."

Shiffrin plans to compete in all five women's events at the Games this year and will race in her favourite discipline, the slalom, on Wednesday.

Swede Sara Hector was the fastest of the early runners, setting the pace with a time of 57.56 seconds.

Hector, who leads the World Cup rankings in giant slalom this season, was 0.30 ahead of Austria's Katharina Truppe and 0.42 faster than Italian Federica Brignone in third.

"I really like the slope, it's great for Olympics," Brignone said.

Shiffrin was the second skier to crash out during the first run after Italy's Marta Bassino, the fifth racer down, wiped out.

Bassino also appeared unhurt from the fall after her skis slid out from under her at the second gate, sending her into a slow slide down the mountain.

Austrian Stephanie Brunner, Norway's Mina Fuerst Holtmann and Canada's Valerie Grenier were the other skiers among the early starters who did not finish.

(Reporting by Simon