Italy’s Laura Pirovano, centre, held off Austria’s Katharina Liensberger, left, and Chiara Mair, right, to claim the women’s giant slalom gold medal at the 2017 FIS Junior Alpine World Ski Championships ©FIS Alpine/Twitter

Italy’s Laura Pirovano held off Austria’s Katharina Liensberger and Chiara Mair to claim the women’s giant slalom gold medal at the 2017 International Ski Federation (FIS) Junior Alpine World Ski Championships in Åre in Sweden today. 

The 19-year-old clocked an overall time of 1min 58.38sec in difficult conditions, beating runner-up Liensberger by 0.13 seconds and third-placed Mair by 1.15 seconds.  

"I’m so happy now," Pirovano said.

"It was difficult because the ground was bumpy and the visibility was not so good.

"You couldn’t see the ground.

"It was obviously better in the second because I started with number 29 and it was similar to the first run for me."

Pirovano was second after the first run behind Norway’s Kristin Lysdahl, who skied out in the second.

Austria's Katharina Liensberger had to settle for the silver medal ©Getty Images
Austria's Katharina Liensberger had to settle for the silver medal ©Getty Images

A mixed team event was also held today as Canada beat Austria in the big final to earn gold and Belgium overcame Germany in the small final to take bronze.

Tomorrow’s action in Åre sees the men's giant slalom and women's slalom events take place. 

Åre was awarded the Championships by the FIS Council at a meeting held during the 2015 Alpine World Ski Championships in Vail/Beaver Creek.

It followed a proposal from the Swedish Ski Association and the organisers of the 2019 Alpine World Ski Championships, which will also be held at the resort.

It is claimed the move will allow organisers to test facilities and infrastructure, as well as giving young skiers the chance to compete at a top-class venue.