Austria's Scheib wins 3rd giant slalom of season; Canada's Grenier finishes 4th

Skiing in front of her home crowd. Winning the race. And going top of the discipline standings.

Julia Scheib could have hardly wished for a better scenario to wrap up her calendar year 2025, just weeks before the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

The Austrian won a World Cup giant slalom on home snow near capital Vienna on Saturday, beating Switzerland's Camille Rast by 0.14 and Olympic champion Sara Hector of Sweden by 0.40 seconds.

Val Grenier of St. Isidore, Ont., finished fourth, 0.77 seconds behind Scheib.

Canada's Valerie Grenier just misses the World Cup giant slalom podium in Austria

Mikaela Shiffrin, the women's record holder with 22 GS victories, finished sixth in Semmering.

"It's crazy, I never thought it would be the win. It was so tough, it was so bumpy, and I was so relieved when I came into the finish," said Scheib, who was two-hundredths behind Hector after the opening run.

In the final run, Scheib trailed then-leader Rast until the final split but had a perfect finish section.

"It's amazing. I heard the crowd before I [skied] into the last section, I heard the crowd, and I thought I had to let the skis go," Scheib said.

Austria's Julia Scheib gets her 3rd World Cup giant slalom win of the season

Alice Robinson, Scheib's main rival in GS, skied out in the first run and the New Zealand racer failed to score points, enabling the Austrian to overtake her and enter the Olympic year with an 88-point lead in the discipline standings, having won three of the five GS races this season.

A two-time winner this season, Robinson clocked the fastest intermediate time in the opening run before she lost her balance and slid off the course in a left turn.

"I got unlucky and off balance and I pressured in a bad spot and just