Nino Tsiklauri kicks off ski season with third in FIS giant slalom in Speikboden

Georgia's leading alpine skier Nino Tsiklauri launched her competitive season with a place on the podium of an international ski federation giant slalom event in Speikboden, Italy on Monday.

Tsiklauri, who got her first win of the 2019 season at Passo San Pellegrino, another of Italy's winter sports destinations, earlier this year was third at the FIS contest among women.

Finishing 0.53 seconds behind third-placed Mariel Kufaas of Norway, the Georgian completed her two runs with a combined time of 2:14.53.

It has been a very difficult start of the racing season for me [but] podium is always nice! Looking forward to racing more till Christmas break!" - Nino Tsiklauri

Taken from the two runs of 1:07.16 and 1:07.37, the second only a tenth slower than the comparative result from Kufaas, the total time also placed Tsiklauri 0.88 seconds behind the winning result of 2:13.12 by Austria's Anna Gruenauer.

The Georgian competitor also accrued 52.24 points with the result and told her social media followers she was happy to have achieved the top-three place at the race.

Beside winning the Passo San Pellegrino race Tsiklauri's results this year have been marked by her first FIS World Ski Championships qualification for giant slalom in Are, Sweden.