Alpine skiing: Worley wins her first globe, Myhrer wins men’s slalom

(Reuters) – France’s Tessa Worley clinched the women’s giant slalom crystal globe at the World Cup finals on Sunday while Sweden’s Andre Myhrer upset Austrian Marcel Hirscher to win the men’s slalom race in Aspen, Colorado.

Federica Brignone, who had a combined two-run time of 1 minute, 58.01 seconds, led an Italian sweep of the podium as she was followed by Sofia Goggia (1:59.45) and Marta Bassino (1:59.48) in the final women’s race of the World Cup season.

Worley, who entered the race atop the discipline standings and needed only to finish 12th or better to win her first globe, finished fifth with a time of 1:59.84.

That left her 0.31 of a second ahead of American Mikaela Shiffrin, the only woman who had a chance on Sunday to deny Worley from becoming the first Frenchwoman since 1993 to secure a giant slalom globe.

“I really wanted to ski with my heart, but my mind was always taking over sometimes,” said Worley. “And in the second run, I knew I didn’t have a choice so I just went for it, kept it simple and I’m just really, really happy with the season. It wasn’t a dream. I mean, it’s true.”

Hirscher, who had already clinched the slalom globe and was looking to become only the third man with 50 World Cup slalom podium finishes, had a .08-second lead entering the final run but ultimately finished fourth.

Myhrer took the race with a total time of 1:27.97 seconds, followed by Germany’s Felix Neureuther (1:28.11) and Austria’s Michael Matt (1:28.12).

The race capped a career-best season for Austrian Hirscher, who collected two world championship titles (slalom and giant slalom), two discipline globes and his sixth consecutive overall title.

“It is amazing. You know, we are often thinking about it — how many years it will be possible to ski on this high level — but at the moment it’s a lot of fun,” said Hirscher.

“Well, I’m hoping for it (to get even better) because otherwise then it’s better to stop at the moment. But anyway, it will be a challenging summer for me and for the whole team to be in shape for next season.”

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Andrew Both)