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Lara Gut-Behrami on her victory trip in Cortina
Photo: DENIS BALIBOUSE / REUTERS
The years of waiting for the first really big triumph are over: top favorite Lara Gut-Behrami drove in an impressive manner to the first gold medal of her career in the first race of the Alpine World Ski Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo.
The 29-year-old Swiss woman won the Super-G ahead of her teammate Corinne Suter (+0.34 seconds), who had already taken second place two years ago in Are / Sweden.
Defending champion Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) took bronze (+0.47) despite a bad mistake, Olympic champion Ester Ledecka (Czech Republic) came fourth (+0.53).
Kira Weidle (Starnberg) clearly missed a place in the top 15.
Gut-Behrami, who has been married to professional footballer Valon Behrami since 2018, had won the last four Super-G races and was finally the favorite.
Before that, she had finished second and third three times at the Olympic Games and World Championships.
At the Olimpia delle Tofane, Gut-Behrami benefited from a serious mistake by Shiffrin, who was on the way to an outstanding best time, in sunshine and light wind.
Gut-Behrami is the first Swiss female world champion since Sonja Nef, who won the giant slalom in St. Anton in 2001.
The last Swiss Super-G winner was Maria Walliser at the 1987 World Cup in Crans-Montana.
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