Italian skier Brignone wins World Cup GS, gets 1st victory for her team in Austrian event since 2002

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.

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)

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — A former guitarist for Grammy-winning Baltimore hardcore band Turnstile has been charged with attempted murder after authorities say he chased down and struck a former bandmate's father with his car, badly injuring him.

Montgomery County police officers responding to a Sunday report about a pedestrian being struck in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Silver Spring found William Yates, the 79-year-old father of lead singer Brendan Yates, injured in a front yard, according to charging documents.

Yates' family said guitarist Brady Ebert, a neighbor who parted ways with the band several years ago, had struck him with a car, police wrote. Yates’ daughter, Erin Gerber, told authorities that she and her husband were getting their kids out of their car when Ebert drove up honking at them and yelling obscenities, then drove into her father.

In video footage obtained from a neighbor, Ebert could be seen driving a gold Buick LeSabre and swerving toward William Yates but missing him, according to the charging documents. Yates then threw a rock at Ebert’s vehicle and Gerber dragged her 3-year-old son onto the lawn to avoid being hit. Ebert then turned sharply into Yates' driveway and struck him as he was trying to run away, investigators wrote. Ebert finally drove across the lawn and left.

Yates told a detective that as he was injured on the ground, Ebert returned and yelled that he “deserved it” before driving off again, according to charging documents.

Yates said Ebert used to be in a band with his son and had been causing problems for his family since being kicked out. He said Ebert had been taunting them for long time, but that his behavior had been escalating.

Ebert, 33, was arrested Tuesday and charged with attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault, court records show.

During a bond hearing Thursday in which he appeared via video, Ebert called William Yates a “maniac” who threw a rock at him asked the judge to watch the surveillance footage, saying it would “contradict” the authorities' narrative of what happened, The Baltimore Banner reported.

But prosecutor Dominic Plantamura said the footage shows it was a “clearly targeted attack” and that Yates is lucky he wasn't injured more seriously.

Ebert's lawyer, John Costello, acknowledged Ebert’s contentious history with his former bandmate, but said, “That does not, in this instance, warrant extra detention.” Costello’s office declined to comment to The Associated Press.

The judge ordered Ebert held without bond.

According to Plantamura, William Yates was injured so badly that a bone stuck out of one leg.

In a statement, Turnstile said it cut ties with Ebert in 2022, “in response to a consistent pattern of harmful behavior." It said a boundary had to be set after he began threatening violence. While Ebert’s “baseless tirades” continued in public since then, the band said it didn’t address them to protect his privacy. Threats escalated in recent months and then there was a physical attack on Brendan Yates’ father this week, the band wrote.

“We are grateful that Mr. Yates survived, has successfully undergone surgery, and we’re hoping for the best possible outcome in his recovery,” the band said. “We have no language left for Brady.”

Turnstile were underground stalwarts until their 2021 album “Glow On” launched them into mainstream consciousness. They cemented their status this year by winning Grammys for Best Rock Album and Best Metal Performance.

FILE - Turnstile's guitarist Brady Ebert performs at the Coachella Music & Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club, Friday, April 19, 2019, in Indio, Calif. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP)