Slovakia's Vlhova wins women's World Cup giant slalom to gain on Shiffrin in standings

Slovakian skier Petra Vlhova dominated the penultimate women's World Cup giant slalom of the season Friday, narrowing the gap on leader Mikaela Shiffrin in the overall standings.

Marta Bassino, who dominated the discipline last season, was 1.24 behind in second.

Olympic GS champion Sara Hector was third after the opening run, but the Swedish leader of the GS standings straddled a gate early in her second run and did not finish.

Hector had her lead in the discipline standings cut to just five points from Tessa Worley, who finished fourth. Hector was on the podium in each of the last six giant slaloms while winning three of them.

Vlhova dealt best with soft snow conditions in both runs on an untypically warm day in central Sweden.

Nice and ready even if a bit warm. <br>The world's best female giant slalom skiers are ready to go at 15.00 CET in <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldCupAre?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WorldCupAre</a>