SEMMERING, Austria (AP) — Federica Brignone held on to her opening-run lead at a women’s World Cup giant slalom on Saturday, becoming the first Italian winner of the Semmering event in 22 years.
Brignone could even afford a mistake near the end of her second run as she defeated Olympic GS champion Sara Hector by 0.57 seconds.
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Switzerland's Lara Gut Behrami speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom race in Semmering, Austria, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
Switzerland's Lara Gut Behrami speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup Gian slalom race, in Semmering, Austria, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Piermarco Tacca)
New Zealand's Alice Robinson speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup Gian slalom race, in Semmering, Austria, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Piermarco Tacca)
Sweden's Sara Hector speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup Gian slalom race, in Semmering, Austria, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Piermarco Tacca)
Italy's Federica Brignone speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom race in Semmering, Austria, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
Italy's Federica Brignone speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom race in Semmering, Austria, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
Italy's Federica Brignone competes in an alpine ski, women's World Cup super G, in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
Alice Robinson of New Zealand was nine-tenths of a second off the pace in third.
“It was not easy the second run, but the slope was amazing," said Brignone, who earned her 14th career win in GS but had not been on the podium here before. "I really wanted it, I’m so happy. It’s been a tough race but I felt really good, I wanted to fight and I was not too stressed.”
In the absence of the injured Mikaela Shiffrin, Paula Moltzan was the leading American racer, trailing Brignone by 1.11 in fifth, matching her best result in giant slalom.
Lindsey Vonn, who made her return to World Cup racing in Switzerland last week, only competes in the speed events of downhill and super-G.
No Italian skier had won the race near the Austrian capital of Vienna since Karen Putzer triumphed in 2002. The race in Semmering is held every two years.
At 34 years and five months, Brignone improved the record she already held as the oldest race winner in women’s World Cup history.
“I would like to beat my record once again, maybe in the season,” the Italian skier said. “I’ve made a Christmas and New Year’s present, amazing!”
Earlier Saturday, Brignone mastered a tricky passage near the end of the Zauberberg course where Italian coach Giorgio Pavoni had set the gates for the first run.
“It’s good, rhythmic and with a lot of turns,” said Brignone, the 2022 Olympic silver medalist and 2011 world champion in the discipline.
Defending overall champion Lara Gut-Behrami, second after the opening run, was slowed in the second when she hooked a gate with her left arm halfway down the course and the Swiss racer dropped to ninth position.
Brignone has won four of the last five giant slaloms and went top of the discipline standings this season, overtaking Hector.
Shiffrin will also miss Sunday's slalom on the same hill. There’s no timetable for her return to racing after the U.S. star underwent abdominal surgery to clean out a deep wound she received in a GS crash on Nov. 30 in Killington, Vermont.
Shiffrin has won the GS in Semmering four times, including both races in 2022 when the event featured an additional GS to make up for a cancelation earlier that season.
She is the record holder for the most World Cup wins – both in giant slalom (22) and overall (99).
Also missing was Petra Vlhova, the former overall champion from Slovakia who won the race in 2020, after she suffered a setback in her recovery from knee surgery.
AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
Switzerland's Lara Gut Behrami speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom race in Semmering, Austria, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
Switzerland's Lara Gut Behrami speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup Gian slalom race, in Semmering, Austria, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Piermarco Tacca)
New Zealand's Alice Robinson speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup Gian slalom race, in Semmering, Austria, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Piermarco Tacca)
Sweden's Sara Hector speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup Gian slalom race, in Semmering, Austria, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Piermarco Tacca)
Italy's Federica Brignone speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom race in Semmering, Austria, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
Italy's Federica Brignone speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom race in Semmering, Austria, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
Italy's Federica Brignone competes in an alpine ski, women's World Cup super G, in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
HELSINGBORG, Sweden (AP) — NATO allies and defense officials expressed bewilderment Friday at U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would send 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland just weeks after ordering the same number of forces pulled out of Europe.
The apparent change of mind came after weeks of statements from Trump and his administration about reducing — not increasing — the U.S. military footprint in Europe. Trump's initial order set off a flurry of action among military commanders and left allies already doubtful about America's commitment to Europe's security to ponder what forces they might have to backfill on NATO's eastern flank with Russia and Ukraine.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration said it was reducing levels in Europe by about 5,000 troops, and U.S. officials confirmed about 4,000 service members were no longer rotating into Poland from Germany. The dispatch to Germany of U.S. personnel trained to fire long-range missiles was also halted.
But in a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump said he would now send "an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland,” citing his strong ties with Polish President Karol Nawrocki, whom Trump endorsed in elections last year.
“It is confusing indeed, and not always easy to navigate,” Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told reporters Friday at a meeting she was hosting of her NATO counterparts, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Ministers from the Netherlands and Norway were sanguine about Trump’s latest move, as was Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže, who said allies knew the U.S. troop “posture was being reconsidered, and now there is no change of posture. For now.”
U.S. defense officials also expressed confusion. “We just spent the better part of two weeks reacting to the first announcement. We don’t know what this means either,” said one of two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.
But Rubio said Washington’s allies understand that changes in the U.S. troop presence in Europe will come as the Trump administration reevaluates its force needs. “I think there’s a broad recognition that there are going to be eventually less U.S. troops in Europe than there has historically been for a variety of reasons,” he said.
The latest surprise came despite a U.S. pledge to coordinate troop deployments, including one from NATO’s top military officer, U.S. Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, on Wednesday.
Trump's initial announcement that he would withdraw troops came as he fumed over remarks by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said that the U.S. was being “humiliated” by the Iranian leadership and criticized what he called a lack of strategy in that war.
Trump told reporters that the U.S. would be cutting even more than 5,000 and also announced new tariffs on European cars. Germany is the continent’s biggest auto producer.
Rubio insisted that Trump’s decision “is not a punitive thing. It’s just something that’s ongoing.”
About 80,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Europe. The Pentagon is required to keep at least 76,000 troops and major equipment on the continent unless NATO allies are consulted and there is a determination that such a withdrawal is in U.S. interests.
The withdrawal of 5,000 troops might drop numbers below that limit.
But Trump's latest post suggests that troop numbers in Europe would not change. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski welcomed the decision to send more forces to his country, saying it ensures that “the presence of American troops in Poland will be maintained more or less at previous levels.”
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte also welcomed the move. On Thursday, before Trump took to Truth Social again, Rutte had underlined that it was important for Europe to take care of its own security. “We have a process in place. This is normal business,” he told reporters.
At NATO headquarters in Brussels, meanwhile, U.S. officials briefed the allies on the Pentagon's aims for its commitments to the NATO Force Model, which involves contingency planning for Europe’s defense in the event of serious security concerns. It was widely expected that a further reduction of U.S. forces would be coming.
Asked whether any cuts were announced, Rutte said: “I’m afraid it’s much more complicated than that.” He said the procedure “is highly classified” and declined to give details.
Rubio played down concerns about a shift in U.S. force levels in Europe, saying: "Every country has to constantly reevaluate what their needs are, what their commitments are around the world, and how to properly structure that.”
Cook reported from Brussels. Associated Press writer Emma Burrows in London contributed.
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with journalists during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, front second left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, front left, speak with each other during a group photo at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte look at each other as they deliver a statement during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže speaks at the doorstep of the NATO foreign ministers' meeting at Sea U in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte deliver a statement during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks to media at the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives with his wife Jeanette at Malmo Airport, Friday, May 22, 2026, in Malmo-Sturup, Sweden, ahead of a NATO foreign ministers meeting. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, second from left, shakes hands with Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson, as he is greeted by King Carl Gustaf of Sweden, Queen Silvia of Sweden and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden Maria Malmer Stenergard, right, before a dinner at Sofiero Castle in Helsingborg, Sweden, Thursday May 21 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard speaks to media at the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
