SOLDEU, Andorra: For Lara Gut-Behrami, ski racing isn’t all about successful races any extra. It’s simply as a lot about avoiding accidents, too.
The Swiss star overtook the absent Mikaela Shiffrin on prime of the ladies’s World Cup general standings with a large slalom victory on Saturday.
Enjoying a 3-race successful streak, Gut-Behrami raised her season’s tally to 1,214 factors, 5 greater than Shiffrin, who sits out this weekend’s races to nurse a left knee damage.
“I learned a lot from my injuries,” Gut-Behrami mentioned. “My first priority is to come to the end of the season. Sometimes we forget that and we only talk about points or wins, but somehow it’s more about skiing great and staying safe.”
Gut-Behrami realized that lesson seven years in the past. She was the defending champion when she tore the ACL in her left knee close to the tip of the season and dropped out of a duel with Shiffrin for the 2016-17 general title.
This time, it’s the American who’s out injured.
Shiffrin damage her knee, however prevented injury to the ligaments, whereas touchdown from a soar and crashed into the protection netting at a downhill in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, 15 days in the past.
Gut-Behrami completed second in that race and has racked up 345 factors within the 4 occasions that Shiffrin has missed since.
“Yes, but this is probably one month too early,” Gut-Behrami mentioned with a smile on regaining the lead within the general standings with 14 races left till the season ends on March 23.
Shiffrin can even skip Sunday’s slalom in Andorra as her return to racing is but unclear. Gut-Behrami doesn’t compete in that self-discipline.
Gut-Behrami is after her second general title, Shiffrin can win her sixth.
“For the overall World Cup, this season has shown us that you have to be fast and you have to be healthy. That will always be my top priority,” mentioned Gut-Behrami, who additionally led the standings after successful the season-opening race in Austria in October.
Many prime skiers have been concerned in critical crashes currently and suffered season-ending accidents, together with Petra Vlhova, Valerie Grenier and Corinne Suter, and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, Alexis Pinturault and Marco Schwarz on the lads’s circuit.
On Saturday, Gut-Behrami got here from a great distance behind and improved from ninth place after the opening run to edge out New Zealand’s Alice Robinson by one-hundredth of a second. Shiffrin’s teammate AJ Hurt completed 0.15 behind in third for the American’s first profession podium in GS.
“I am just so happy about the win. It was a tough race, I missed completely the first run, I didn’t come into speed,” mentioned Gut-Behrami, who completed 0.61 seconds off the tempo within the morning session.
Marta Bassino led Federica Brignone for an Italian one-two end within the opening run, however they dropped to sixth and fourth, respectively.
Bassino was the junior world GS champion 10 years in the past. She gained the World Cup title within the self-discipline in 2021 however has gained only one World Cup race over the past three years.
Most racers struggled and misplaced time on a bump in a proper flip close to the tip of the course. Gut-Behrami did as properly, however the remainder of her run was close to-flawless.
“Second run was good, I just attacked. I had a big mistake on the finish so I’m really happy that in the end it worked out,” she mentioned. “Everything I was missing in the first run, I wanted to show in the second run. The course was nice, I enjoyed that.”
Hurt continued her breakthrough World Cup season along with her second profession podium, and first in GS.
“I think I just went as hard as I could. I was like, I’m going to go all out, either I fall out or I I’m going to make it to the finish hopefully really fast,” mentioned the California native, who was out injured for nearly the entire of final season.
“I was just excited to come back, excited to be back to ski racing at all. So, this is really crazy to have this.”
Hurt earned her first podium when inserting third at a slalom in Slovenia 5 weeks in the past, and had two prime-10 ends in GS earlier than Saturday’s race.
American teammate Paula Moltzan completed eleventh.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
