Federica Brignone takes women's World Cup giant slalom, stays in hunt for season title

Italian skier Federica Brignone used a blistering second run to win the season's penultimate women's World Cup giant slalom Saturday and stay in contention for the discipline title.

Brignone needed to gain at least 36 points more than GS standings leader Lara Gut-Behrami did, and managed to do so with the help of first-run leader Sara Hector in Åre, Sweden. Brignone finished in a two-run time of two minutes 11.02 seconds.

Hector, the Olympic GS champion from Sweden, finished runner-up (2:11.35) and pushed Gut-Behrami into third position (2:11.42). The Swiss star would have locked up the title if she had finished second.

But after winning four races this season, Gut-Behrami is still in a favourable position to clinch it next week, carrying a 95-point lead over Brignone into the season-ending GS at the World Cup finals in Austria. A race win is worth 100 points.

WATCH | Brignone captures women's giant slalom by 0.33 seconds in Sweden:

Mikaela Shiffrin sat out the race after recovering from knee injury, but the American star plans to return to racing at Sunday's slalom.

Cassidy Gray of Invermere, B.C., was the top Canadian in 15th. She posted a time of 2:14.07, 3.05 seconds behind Brignone. Britt Richardson of Canmore, Alta., was 21st of 29 finishers in 2:14.57.

Sarah Bennett of Stoneham, Que., sat outside the top 30 in 35th and didn't advance to the second run. Simone Wild of Switzerland was 30th, 54-100ths faster. Arianne Forget of Prevost, Que., was one of nine athletes to not finish the first run.

Gut-Behrami is also a strong favourite to win the overall title since Shiffrin didn't race in the past six weeks, and the Swiss standout holds healthy leads in the downhill and super-G standings.

The only discipline