Federica Brignone. Photo: GEPA pictures.

MERIBEL, France — Italian skier Federica Brignone posted the fastest time in the super-G portion of the women’s combined event Monday on the opening day of the world championships, leading defending champion Mikaela Shiffrin by almost a second.

The Méribel women’s combined super-G opened the 2023 FIS World Ski Championships. The clear skies were complimented by perfect snow. Notably, the course set by the Norwegian coach provided an appropriate challenge for the best women in the world. The FIS has built terrain into the slope and at super-G speeds, it has proved to be a decisive factor.

Birgnone, the Italian rocket skiing with bib 15, will enter the combined slalom with the fastest first run super-G time. She could ski with a commitment to the arc and an aggressive line. Brigone will take a (-0.71) over 2nd place Norwegian Ragnhild Mowinckel into the slalom. Matching Mowinckel was Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami but she used the day only to test her skills on the super-G course and will not compete in the afternoon slalom.

The prerace favorite is Mikaela Shiffrin. Shiffrin skied smoothly and tactically well. However, Shiffrin’s first run ranks sixth (+0.96) behind Birgnone. However, if the German coach’s final run course is challenging, the differential is manageable for the best slalom skier in women’s history.

“I know Federica doesn’t ski a lot of slalom, but I know that when she skies it, she can be very fast. So, I am not sure if I can actually make up nine-tenths on that,” Shiffrin said. “The ones who win a medal are the ones who have a pretty solid run in both events or a really killer run in at least one event. I think I can do a very good run of slalom, so now I just focus on that.”

Shiffrin was competing in her first major event since failing to win a medal in six starts at last year’s Beijing Olympics.

“I am pretty satisfied with my first run. I felt pretty good with my skiing,” Shiffrin said. “Obviously there are some section where I can ski much faster.”

Canadian Valerie Grenier is ninth and her teammate Marie-Michele Gagnon is 18th. USA’s Isabella Wright is ranked 22nd going into the slalom.

Analysis of the fastest three; North Americans and the super-G results

Results of the women’s Combined 1s run super-G

The Associated Press contributed to this report.