Sara Hector of Sweden took home gold in the women’s giant slalom event with a combined time of 1:55.69.
Hector, making her third Olympic appearance overall, was an overwhelming favorite coming into Beijing. She already had three World Cup victories heading into the Olympics and was the top-ranked giant slalom skier on the World Cup tour. The gold medal is the first of any kind for the 29-year-old Swede.
Italy's Federica Brignone, who won bronze in the event at the 2018 PyeongChang Games, claimed silver with a combined time of 1:55:97, and Switzerland's Lara Gut-Behrami earned bronze with a combined time of 1:56.41. It's Gut-Behrami's second career Olympic bronze medal.
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Team USA had the reigning Olympic champion in the event, Mikaela Shiffrin, but she failed to advance to the second run after registering a "Did Not Finish" for missing a gate and crashing out.
Paula Motlzan and Nina O'Brien were the only Americans to advance to the second run. O'Brien had the sixth-fastest first run, but was involved in a scary crash at the end of her second run. Meanwhile, Motlzan jumped from 17th to 12th by finishing her second run in 58.50 seconds for a combined time of 1:58.07.
