Milano Cortina, Luca Pinheiro Braathen leads first giant slalom run: Alex Vinatzer eleventh

Bormio, Feb. 14 (LaPresse) – The first run of the Olympic giant slalom at Milano Cortina on the Bormio course was very unusual due to the snow conditions, made wet by high temperatures. The fastest was Luca Pinheiro Braathen, who used bib number one, with a 0.95-second lead over Swiss Marco Odermatt, and another Swiss, Loic Meillard, in third at 1.57 seconds. Italian Alex Vinatzer was eleventh, 0.82 seconds from the bronze. Gaps were very wide due to a challenging and fast course that leaves no room for errors: even a small deviation off line results in significant time loss because of the excessively wet and soft snow. Currently, Giovanni Franzoni is 24th, skiing with bib 31, with around forty competitors still to go. Out of the race were Luca de Aliprandini, who lost a ski after a few gates, and Tobias Kastlunger, who exited after a few seconds.