Swiss skier Lara Gut-Behrami won the women’s World Cup super-G title Thursday
while Mikaela Shiffrin finished 14th in her first race since setting the record for most
career victories with 87.
Gut-Behrami had a near-flawless run on the Aliga course to win the final super-G of
the season and overtake Italian rival Elena Curtoni in the standings. Curtoni finished
1.23 seconds behind in 10th, a day after she crashed in the downhill on the same hill.
“It’s been a roller coaster this season, and I’m happy today,” Gut-Behrami said. “I just
wanted to ski to don’t have regrets. Sometimes that’s the best way, just stop thinking.
I didn’t focus on the lines and just tried to be fast.”
Read Also:Edwin Díaz suffers baseball injury after wild WBC celebration
Curtoni said her crash in the downhill didn’t affect her performance Thursday.
“I’m a little bit sore, but that’s not an excuse, for sure,” said the Italian skier, who was
the super-G junior world champion in 2011. “I know I can do good. I was showing it
the whole season. I will keep on working.”
Federica Brignone finished 0.22 seconds behind in second place, and Ragnhild
Mowinckel was 0.47 back in third. Both needed to finish ahead of Gut-Behrami to
maintain their chance of winning the super-G title.
Gut-Behrami won the season-long super-G title for the fourth time. She also won
Olympic gold in the event in 2022 and the world title in 2021 and was the overall
World Cup champion in 2016.
After her triumph in St. Anton two months ago, Gut-Behrami became the only skier
this season with multiple super-G victories.
While all other discipline titles had been decided before the final week, five racers
had a shot at the super-G globe coming into the race after the previous seven races
produced seven different winners. Shiffrin won once, in St. Moritz in December, but
was out of contention after sitting out three races.
On Thursday, Shiffrin avoided risks in her run and trailed leader Gut-Behrami by 0.79
seconds at the first split. She slowed before a jump but picked up time again by
posting the fastest time in the finishing sector. She ended up 1.46 seconds behind
Gut-Behrami.
“It can be a little bit tiring, World Cup Finals, but it’s also such a pleasure to be here
racing with no pressure from the globes,” Shiffrin said. “So it’s really just basically my
own motivation to see if I can execute good skiing.”
Shiffrin locked up the overall, giant slalom and slalom titles this season before the
last races in her strongest events. The final slalom is on Saturday, and the giant
slalom is Sunday.
The American skier surpassed Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark on the all-time
winners list with her 87th career victory Saturday.
“This last week, it’s just been a lot of media, and a lot of talking about what I have
achieved, like kind of past tense,” Shiffrin said. “In my own mind, I think about
basically where I am now, how I want to ski, and the possibility for motivation in the
future.”
Thursday’s race was the last for Nicole Schmidhofer, who wore a traditional Austrian
outfit and skied down at a leisurely pace while hugging coaches along the course. The
Austrian skier, who was the super-G world champion in 2017 and won four World Cup
races, announced her retirement on the eve of the race.
Schmidhofer and Gut-Behrami shared a podium at the junior world championships in
2006.
“It’s an emotional day, the win, the globe, Nicole quitting,” Gut-Behrami said. “I think
I’m getting older and getting more emotional. It’s crazy. I’m crying all the time, but
it’s a nice feeling sometimes.”
The race was interrupted after a crash from Kira Weidle, who lost her balance when
her ski tips crossed after a jump and slid into the safety nets. The German skier
appeared to be unhurt.
http://nationalsportslink.com.ng
