Lara Gut-Behrami wins Giant Slalom world title with Mikaela Shiffrin agonisingly second
Swiss skier beats American by 0.02 seconds to claim her second gold at the Cortina 2021 World Championships
Alpine Skiing
Lara Gut-Behrami claimed women's Giant Slalom victory at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo on Thursday (18th February).
In a tight finish, the Swiss skier put down a stunning second run to pick up her third medal of Cortina 2021, after winning her maiden world title in the Super G a week earlier.
Two-time Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin was leading after the first run, but had to settle for silver, as she just missed out on a seventh world title by 0.02 seconds.
It's the American's 10th World Championship medal. Shiffrin had become the most-decorated skier from her country at the worlds with her win in the Super Combined on Monday.
Katharina Liensberger of Austria took bronze, just ahead of 19-year-old Alice Robinson of New Zealand.
Gut-Behrami's performance means she becomes the most decorated Swiss woman in world championships history.
“I’ve been struggling a lot in the last years, but this year I was coming back step by step,” she after the race. “I was tired, but I just tried to enjoy.”
Shiffrin was happy with her silver. “I’m actually pretty excited, because the last three [World Cup] GS races, I was losing a lot more time in the second run,” the American said.
“Getting even a silver and being so close and hanging onto a medal … it was really not guaranteed, so that’s pretty cool." - Shiffrin on silver.
There will be more medals up for grabs in Saturday's women's slalom, where Shiffrin is the defending four-time world champion.
Tessa Worley of France was seventh, while Slovakia's defending world GS champion Petra Vlhova was 12th.
You can get a behind-the-scenes at her preparations for the Cortina 2021 event in the Olympic Channel original series Cirque Blanc.