Alpine ski World Cup 23/24: Lara Gut-Behrami conquers Cortina to secure consecutive Super G wins - Results
Gut-Behrami reduced the gap to Mikaela Shiffrin in the overall World Cup standings to under 200 points as she took victory ahead of Stephanie Venier and Romane Miradoli.
Alpine Skiing
Lara Gut-Behrami completed back-to-back FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Super G wins at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy on Sunday (28 January).
This was the Swiss ace's fourth World Cup victory of the season - two in Super G, two in giant slalom - to take her career tally to 41 including four wins at Cortina (three in Super G, one in downhill). And with Cornelia Huetter failing to finish, it saw Gut-Behrami go top of the Super G series standings.
Wearing start bib number six, Gut-Behrami was blisteringly quick on the second half of the course and took the lead from Germany's Kira Weidle by a massive 1.33 seconds.
After two third-place finishes on consecutive days, home favourite Sofia Goggia was next to go. The Italian star was ahead on the clock at the second checkpoint, but over half a second down at the third as it became clear just how well Gut-Behrami had skied.
Goggia would go into second, 0.58 off the pace, but she was displaced by Friday's downhill winner Stephanie Venier who was just 0.21 behind Gut-Behrami.
Fresh from her win in Saturday's downhill, Norway's Ragnhild Mowinckel was the fastest on the top section. But she had to slam on the brakes on a number of turns on the bottom half and just about managed to displace Goggia from the podium.
Then came Romane Miradoli who was as quick as Mowinckel at the top and just four-hundredths down on Gut-Behrami at the last checkpoint. The Frenchwoman was unable to carry her speed to the finish, but she did move into third place.
Valerie Grenier looked on course for a podium finish but became the latest in a long line of women to suffer a big crash on the Olimpia delle Tofane.
The Canadian was thrown into the air and lost a ski on a left-hand turn close to the finish, hitting the ground before careering into the safety netting. She was stretchered away from the course with her condition unknown.
On Friday, overall World Cup leader Mikaela Shiffrin strained knee ligaments in a crash with Olympic downhill champion Corinne Suter tearing an ACL the same day to end her season.
After a long delay, Stephanie Jenal fell late on and slid into the safety netting prompting another interruption.
Gut-Behrami has closed the gap on Shiffrin in the overall standings to 195 points, and will have the chance to make further inroads in Tuesday's giant slalom at nearby Kronplatz.
Cortina d'Ampezzo, FIS World Cup: Results from women's Super G, 28 January 2024 (top 10)
- Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI) 1:20.75
- Stephanie Venier (AUT) +0.21
- Romane Miradoli (FRA) +0.41
- Ragnhild Mowinckel (NOR) +0.53
- Sofia Goggia (ITA) +0.58
- Marta Bassino (ITA) +0.75
- Mirjam Puchner (AUT) +1.10
- Alice Robinson (NZL) +1.11
- Federica Brignone (ITA) +1.30
- Kira Weidle (GER) +1.33