(Altenmarkt-Zauchensee) The Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami signed a 20e career super-G victory on the World Cup circuit on Sunday when she won her favorite event in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria.
Only the American Lindsey Vonn, with 28 victories in super-G, ranks ahead of Gut-Behrmami, the Olympic champion in 2022, in this discipline.
Gut-Behrami beat Cornelia Huetter by 25 hundredths of a second. The Austrian won Friday’s super-G, in which Gut-Behrami placed third. Mirjam Puchner completed the podium on Sunday.
The leader in the World Cup circuit standings, American Mikaela Shiffrin, has decided not to participate in the speed weekend in Austria. She decided to go to Bern, Switzerland, where her partner Aleksander Aamodt Kilde is in hospital. Kilde suffered a nasty fall during the men’s downhill in Wengen on Saturday and dislocated his right shoulder.
Shiffrin is scheduled to compete Tuesday evening in a World Cup slalom under floodlights at Flachau, a resort near Altenmarkt.
Crossing the finish line, Gut-Behrami clenched her right fist as she saw that she had taken the lead.
“It’s a nice feeling to ski like that. This is what I wanted from start to finish,” said Gut-Behrami, acknowledging that she had lacked confidence in previous sprint races. In giant slalom, however, she has already won twice this season.
Its 40e career World Cup victory, which ranks her seventh in women’s history, came 13 years after her previous super-G victory at Altenmarkt-Zauchensee.
Gut-Behrami is a four-time super-G season ranking champion and is second behind Huetter this season.
Shiffrin still leads the overall World Cup standings and is seeking a sixth title, which would tie Annemarie Moser-Pröll’s record. The Austrian dominated skiing in the 1970s.
Shiffrin’s lead was cut to 140 points by Federica Brignone, the 2020 overall champion, who finished outside the top 10Sunday, after placing 14e during Saturday’s descent.
The skiers competed in speed events for three consecutive days this weekend. They will do it again in two weeks in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, and next month in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.