Brignone finally snatches the skiing gold medal she's always wanted by winning the GS world title

SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria (AP) — Seven medals from major skiing events, including a world title in Alpine combined and Olympic silver and bronze in giant slalom.

An overall championship, 32 races, and season titles in three different disciplines on the World Cup.

Still, Federica Brignone always felt that one prize was missing from her list of achievements.

Until Thursday, when the Italian crowned probably the best season of her storied career by finally snatching the win she's always wanted: The world championship in giant slalom.

“This was my dream, to be a gold medalist in GS. I have been dreaming of this moment for many, many years. I was always second,” said Brignone, who won GS silver at the worlds in 2011 and 2023. “This is just one of the best days of my life.”

The Italian seized the gold medal in style by dominating both runs and winning by a massive margin of 0.90 seconds.

Alice Robinson’s silver was New Zealand’s first medal in worlds history.

And Paula Moltzan took bronze for the American’s first individual medal from a major event. She edged fourth-placed Thea Louise Stjernesund of Norway by one-hundredth of a second.

Defending champion Mikaela Shiffrin sat out the event because she said she was not ready yet to race giant slalom again following a crash in November.

Shiffrin paired with downhiller Breezy Johnson and skied the slalom portion to win the team combined event Tuesday but wasn’t physically ready to ski the GS. She planned to start in Saturday’s slalom.

Holding a comprehensive lead from the first run, Brignone had a member of the Italian coaching staff put some snow inside the back of her shirt before stepping into the start gate for her final run, wearing her helmet with a tiger design.

She kept her cool charging down the Schneekristall course again with another near-flawless run.

After finishing, she covered her face with both hands when she saw she won. Then Robinson and Moltzan embraced her in the finish area.

“There has always been a very high level in women’s skiing, as far as my generation is concerned, then Shiffrin also arrived, the strongest of all," said Brignone, the first Italian winner of GS gold at the worlds since Deborah Compagnoni won back-to-back titles in 1996-97.

"Achieving such a result, with all eyes on it, is really difficult, and today I am really satisfied.”

Family was with Brignone for the big moment: Her younger brother, Davide, who is her coach; and her mother, former skier Maria Rosa Quario, who watched the race in the stands and jumped for joy when her daughter crossed the line in first.

“This is very important to her," said Quario, a two-time Olympian who won four World Cup slaloms in the 1970s and 80s.

“She did win a gold before, in combined, but that’s not the same. The giant slalom is the most important discipline,” Quario said and added, jokingly: "For me, today, she can quit.”

Her daughter, though, has other plans than retiring.

Brignone's second medal from these worlds after silver in super-G a week ago is capping what’s turning out to be the strongest of her 18 seasons on the World Cup circuit.

She leads the overall standings and could land that title for a second time after 2020; she won the first two downhills of her career last month; and she has been extending her record as the oldest race winner five times.

At 34 years, 7 months, Brignone has also become the oldest female medalist at the worlds. Lindsey Vonn was four months younger when she won downhill bronze in 2019.

Vonn, who came out of retirement after nearly six years at age 40 this season with a new titanium knee, doesn’t race in giant slalom anymore.

Robinson led the race after a strong final run, but acknowledged Brignone's dominance.

“Federica was just amazing, while I thought I had done something amazing,” Robinson said. "It’s so awesome in Alpine skiing to bring a country like New Zealand to the medal table, it’s so cool and I’m really proud and excited.”

Moltzan said she was “just happy, joyful" for her bronze. She was fourth in Tuesday's team combined with downhiller Lauren Macuga, and in the mixed team parallel event last week.

“It’s been kind of a rollercoaster of a season, with results and with emotions,” said Moltzan, whose parents were among the 11,000 spectators.

“For it all to kind of play out on the really big stage is amazing. I can’t believe I was on the right side of the hundredth today.”

The next event at the worlds is the men's giant slalom on Friday.

AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing

Italy's Federica Brignone competes in a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Italy's Federica Brignone celebrates winning the gold medal in a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States' Paula Moltzan speeds down the course during a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti

New Zealand's Alice Robinson speeds down the course during a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti

New Zealand's Alice Robinson celebrates on the podium after winning the silver medal in a a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Italy's Federica Brignone celebrates at the finish area winning a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025 (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)

New Zealand's Alice Robinson celebrates at the finish area of a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

United States' Paula Moltzan celebrates at the finish area of a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

United States' Paula Moltzan celebrates winning the bronze medal in a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Italy's Federica Brignone celebrates winning the gold medal in a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Italy's Federica Brignone, center, gold medal in a women's giant slalom, celebrates on the podium with silver medalist New Zealand's Alice Robinson, left, and bronze medalist United States' Paula Moltzan, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Italy's Federica Brignone celebrates after winning the gold medal in a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Italy's Federica Brignone celebrates at the finish area of a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Italy's Federica Brignone celebrates at the finish area winning a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025 (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)

Italy's Federica Brignone celebrates winning the gold medal in a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Italy's Federica Brignone competes in a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Italy's Federica Brignone celebrates at the finish area of a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Italy's Sofia Goggia concentrates ahead of a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti

United States' Paula Moltzan competes in a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

New Zealand's Alice Robinson competes in a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

New Zealand's Alice Robinson competes in a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Italy's Federica Brignone concentrates ahead of a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Italy's Federica Brignone competes in a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

MUMBAI, India (AP) — Shreyas Iyer was provisionally named in India’s squad on Saturday for the home one-day international series against New Zealand starting Jan. 11.

India will host the Black Caps in a white-ball engagement — three ODIs and five T20s — in the build-up to the 2026 T20 World Cup.

Iyer returns to the international fold after sustaining a spleen injury during an ODI against Australia in Sydney last October.

His selection is subject to fitness clearance from BCCI’s medical team and he will return as India’s vice-captain for the three-match series.

Skipper Shubman Gill also returns, after he missed the ODI series against South Africa in December. He had a neck spasm in the test series earlier, and subsequently played in the T20s against the Proteas.

Ruturaj Gaikwad and Tilak Verma missed out. Gaikwad had scored a maiden ODI hundred against South Africa in Visakhapatnam.

Rishabh Pant is retained as second keeper-batter behind Lokesh Rahul, who had stood in as captain against the Proteas.

Star batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma had both participated in the domestic List A tournament — Vijay Hazare Trophy — and return to the international stage for the ODIs.

All-rounder Hardik Pandya is fit, but not sufficiently enough to bowl 10 overs in an ODI. Thus, he has been rested further ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup (in India and Sri Lanka) starting Feb. 7. Nitish Kumar Reddy is included in the squad.

Pacer Mohammed Siraj returns to lead the bowling lineup with Jasprit Bumrah rested again. Siraj had missed the South Africa series because of workload management.

The three ODIs will be played in Vadodara (Jan. 11), Rajkot (Jan. 14) and Indore (Jan. 18), with the five-match T20 series starting Jan. 21.

Squad: Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal.

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

FILE - Captain of Punjab Kings Shreyas Iyer addresses a news conference on the eve of the final match of Indian Premier League at Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)