Nino Tsiklauri wins FIS giant slalom at Italian ski resort

Georgia’s Nino Tsiklauri celebrated her first win of the year after conquering the top spot of the International Ski Federation’s giant slalom event in Italy’s Passo San Pellegrino on Sunday.

The 25-year-old finished her two runs a combined 0.33 seconds ahead of local favourite Jennifer Paissan and 0.36 seconds in front of New Zealand’s Eliza Grigg.

Tsiklauri’s second run was 0.06 slower than the time clocked by her closest rival, however the first run down the 350m vertical drop route saw the Georgian stop the clocks a significant 0.39 faster than Paissan.

Tsiklauri earned two podium finishes in two days of competition at Passo San Pellegrino. Photo: Nino Tsiklauri on Facebook.

The FIS Ladies Giant Slalom saw over 100 skiers from 10 countries descend the track that started at 2120m altitude.

The finishing result saw Tsiklauri claim 33.36 FIS points that contributed to her rankings for the international federation.

It followed her second place finish in Passo San Pellegrino a day earlier, after she completed the two runs 0.79 seconds behind Italy’s Sofia Graffi Brunoro.

Her appearance at the Italian route also comes in the wake of the skier’s recent achievement of completing her first FIS World Ski Championships qualification for giant slalom in Are, Sweden last month.