The Women’s Alpine Skiing World Cup continued on Sunday with a giant slalom in Flachau.

Two-time giant slalom World Cup champion Viktoria Rebensburg  started the race with the bib No. 1 and set a time that none of the top group of first seven skiers could beat. It was only Slovenia’s Ana Drev with the bib No. 10 who could beat her time by 0.04 seconds to lead after the first run. Drev already once led a giant slalom after first run this season; that was in Lienz where she failed to finish the second run, though.

Austria’s Eva-Maria Brem was third in the first run, 0.40 seconds from Drev. The overall and giant slalom World Cup leader Lara Gut of Switzerland was fourth, 0.61 seconds from Drev.

The first run took place in snowfall. The snowfall had stopped between the runs and the second run started in sunny conditions. However, the conditions changed during the second run and it started to snow again when the top 10 were having their second run.

23rd after the first run, Francesca Marsaglia made big progress on the second run. She set the quickest second run and finished the race in a tie for seventh place with her countrywomen Manuela Mölgg, eighth after the first run.

Another Italian who made big progress on the second run was Nadia Fanchini. 16th in the first run, she finished the race in sixth place, 0.02 seconds ahead of Marsaglia and Mölgg.

The biggest surprise of the race was Stephanie Brunner of Austria. Starting the race with the bib No. 37, she made the second run as the 13th-quickest of the first run. She claimed the lead after her second run, and perfectly for her, the visibility started worsening after her run, making the conditions more difficult for the remaining skiers. She finished the race in fifth place.

Second in the overall World Cup, Lindsey Vonn of the USA finished the first run in 10th place. She fell close to the finish of the second run and didn't finish the race.

The first woman to beat Brunner's time was the first run's fifth place finisher, Federica Brignone of Italy. After Brignone started, the overall World Cup leader Lara Gut had a great chance to extend her lead over Vonn in the standings. However, she was having a slow run and with mistakes on the final section, she finished the race in 19th place, earning only 12 World Cup points.

Third in the first run, Eva-Maria Brem couldn't match the pace of Brignone but went into second place, 0.65 seconds behind, still enough to claim the giant slalom World Cup lead from Gut.

Second in the first run, Viktoria Rebensburg had a great second run despite poor visibility. With a second run 0.26 seconds quicker than Brignone's, the German claimed the lead by 0.99 seconds, aiming for her first win of the season.

Only the first run's leader, Ana Drev, was remaining after Rebensburg's run. Starting with a lead of 0.04 seconds, Drev couldn't match Rebensburg's pace but lost by 0.94 seconds, still enough to finish in second place by 0.05 seconds to Brignone. That was the career-first podium finish for the 30-year-old Slovenian.

Brem leads the giant slalom World Cup by 30 points to Gut, 67 points to Brignone, and 82 points to Rebensburg.

Gut leads the overall World Cup by 50 points to Vonn and 89 points to Frida Hansdotter who scored no points in the Flachau giant slalom.

Women's World Cup continues on January 23-24 in Cortina d'Ampezzo with a downhill and a super-G.