Alpine skiing-Italy’s Bassino wins by a whisker in Sestriere

(Reuters) – Italy’s Marta Bassino took a narrow win at home in the giant slalom World Cup race in Sestriere on Saturday, finishing just over a tenth of a second ahead of Sara Hector from Sweden.

Bassino, who took her sixth career World Cup victory in giant slalom, clocked two minutes 28.89 seconds and edged out Hector by 0.11 seconds. Petra Vlhova of Slovakia claimed third, 0.40 seconds behind Bassino.

Overall World Cup leader Mikaela Shiffrin of America ended up in sixth place, 1.96 seconds behind Bassino.

It was the 26-year-old Bassino’s first World Cup victory on home soil.

“Arriving at the line with the green light in front of the Italians (in the crowd) was really incredible. I know it was hard because the slope was really tough,” Bassino said.

“It was a fight more than a good feeling on my skis but to win here at home is amazing.”

The World Cup competition will continue on Sunday with the slalom event.

(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk; Editing by Hugh Lawson)