CORTINA, Italy — Under cloudy skies at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre, the women’s giant slalom opened on a firm surface before warming temperatures made the second run more demanding. Megan Gustafson led Team USA through those conditions with a fifth-place finish in the vision impaired race, while Kelsey O’Driscoll finished ninth in standing and Hailey Griffin finished ninth in sitting in her first Paralympic action.

VISION IMPAIRED

Gustafson, the youngest U.S. Paralympian, was the first racer out of the start in the women’s vision impaired field and set the tone early. She skied a smooth top section and used the delay across two gates to shape longer turns through the terrain changes, putting down a composed first run that moved her into fourth at the break.

“Courses were set in an interesting way, they were really fun sets,” Gustafson said.

Her second run was similarly controlled. After crossing the finish line and exchanging a fist bump with guide Spenser Gustafson, her brother, she briefly moved into second place before the final starters pushed her down the order. The result held as the best American finish of the day.

“It’s been incredible to get to share this with my brother,” Gustafson said.

Austria’s Veronika Aigner won gold, Italy’s Chiara Mazzel won silver, and Austria’s Elina Stary took bronze.

STANDING

In the standing race, O’Driscoll led the U.S. women with a ninth-place finish. She sat 11th after the first run after losing speed through the middle section, where maintaining momentum proved difficult.

Her second run was cleaner, allowing her to move up two spots in the final standings.

“For four trackers, the LW1s, it’s really hard,” O’Driscoll said. “I’m not here to win at GS. I’m here to become a better skier overall.”

Allie Johnson finished 12th after sitting just outside the top 10 following the opening run on a course that made speed difficult to maintain.

“Not the run that I wanted, but I had some good turns out there,” Johnson said. “The snow is hard in some spots and soft in others and you can’t really see where it changes.”

Audrey Crowley showed a strong pace in her first run but missed the final gate after getting too direct over the closing section and was disqualified.

Sweden’s Ebba Aarsjoe won gold, Varvara Voronchikhina of the Russian Federation took silver, and France’s Aurelie Richard earned bronze.

SITTING

The Americans were well positioned after the first run in the sitting race, with Anna Soens in sixth, Saylor O’Brien eighth, Hailey Griffin 10th, and Laurie Stephens 11th.

The second run reshaped the American results. Soens, who began the run as the top U.S. skier in the class, struck a gate with her outrigger and fell. O’Brien was skiing faster than the skier at the top of the leaderboard before spinning out, and Stephens also went out after getting caught in the changing surface.

Griffin was the only American in the class to reach the finish, placing ninth after completing both runs in her first Paralympic action.

On her second run, Griffin dropped low on her line early but recovered to make the next gate and carried a steadier rhythm through the lower section to secure her finish.

“I was super nervous in the first run, and then less so in the second,” Griffin said. “Built up a little bit of confidence.”

Stephens said adapting to the changing surface was part of racing.

“Skiing has a lot of variables and a lot of different conditions,” Stephens said. “Stuff happens, and that’s part of ski racing.”

Soens struck a similar tone after her run ended early.

“I’m disappointed, obviously, but again, just proud of myself for being here,” Soens said. “I’m proud of myself for each push-out of the start.”

Germany’s Anna-Lena Forster won gold in sitting, Japan’s Momoka Muraoka took silver, and China’s Liu Sitong took bronze.

FINISH

For Team USA, the race showed how quickly giant slalom can shift as conditions change across two runs. Gustafson’s fifth-place result ultimately stood as the top American finish of the day.