Lara Gut-Behrami also wants to get back on the road to success at the World Championships. The next opportunity will be in Saalbach on Saturday in the downhill.
08.02.2025, 04:00
08.02.2025, 08:29
SDA
It's a bit of a contradiction. Last March at the season finale in Saalbach, Lara Gut-Behrami could hardly stop celebrating off the piste. She was presented with three crystal globes, the large trophy for winning the overall standings and the small ones for first place in the super-G and giant slalom discipline rankings. However, the location in Glemmtal has not yet brought her any luck.
Last March, she only managed 10th place in the giant slalom, 7th in the super-G and 17th in the downhill. In addition, 17th place meant that the Ticino native missed out on the opportunity to be presented with a fourth glass trophy. The reason for this was that Lara Gut-Behrami had tackled the last downhill of the winter with a lead of 68 points and more, so 7th place would have been enough for her.
The Olympic champion has also had an unpleasant run at the World Championships. Since winning the giant slalom title four years ago in Cortina d'Ampezzo, she has been chasing a satisfactory result. In Méribel the winter before last, the trouble started with 6th place in the super-G - which will hopefully not be repeated in Saalbach over the next few days.
Lara Gut-Behrami must have emphasized in the run-up to the race that the downhill slope with its artificial waves does not particularly suit her. In the training sessions, however, she indicated that she can cope with the conditions and that she is capable of finding her rhythm in contrast to her run in the super-G on Thursday.
If the training performances of the competition are taken as a reference, a difficult task awaits. The Austrian Mirjam Puchner, the Czech Ester Ledecka and the German Emma Aicher have already impressed in the practice runs.
Corinne Suter finds herself at a similar point after the super-G. The skier from Central Switzerland must show the virtues that have helped her to win victories and medals at major events, the ability to be ready on the day that counts. Saturday is another such day.
The Swiss quartet will be completed by Malorie Blanc, who has a lot to live up to if she performs well, and Priska Ming-Nufer, who clearly beat Michelle Gisin in the internal qualification.
Jasmine Flury's successor will be chosen on the fourth of eleven competition days. The athlete from Graubünden is unable to defend her title due to cartilage damage in her right knee suffered a year ago in Crans-Montana. She will miss the entire season due to the injury.
