Unstoppable for a month, Lara Gut-Behrami signed the double on the second World Cup downhill in two days in Val di Fassa (Italy) on Saturday and took the lead in the general classification of the World Cup.
The Swiss edged her compatriot world champion Corinne Suter by 0''32 and German vice-world champion Kira Weidle by 0''68.
Lara Gut-Behrami continued her exceptional series started on January 23 on the descent of Crans Montana (Switzerland) with a second place.
Over the last 11 races, it has 10 podiums, including seven victories in three different disciplines (giant, super-G, downhill).
The only false note was an anecdotal elimination in qualifying for the parallel World Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo (Italy), where she also shone with her first two titles (super-G and giant) and bronze in the descent.
Vlhova 107 points behind
Lara Gut-Behrami made a spectacular comeback at the age of 29.
She has won as much in the World Cup in a month and a half (six successes since January 10) as in the four seasons that followed her big crystal globe in 2016. A serious knee injury in February 2017 had broken her momentum and marked the start of several difficult seasons.
On Saturday, it was even more impressive than the day before on a track with no major pitfalls, level on the flat parts despite its small size and untouchable on the trajectories of the few key curves of the layout.
She thus won a 32nd World Cup victory (10th all-time skier), her 11th downhill (9th).
Above all, she scored 100 points again to take the lead in the general classification 107 points ahead of Slovakian Petra Vlhova.
As on Friday, Vlhova, a technical specialist, was not unworthy with a 12th place (22 points).
With nine races to go to the end of the season, the fight for the big globe remains undecided.
Gut-Behrami should once again rule the super-G on Sunday (she remains on 5 consecutive successes in the discipline).
But Petra Vlhova will have four slaloms, her specialty on which the Swiss has not yet aligned, to make up for it.
The key should lie in the last two giants, where the two skiers are able to win, especially from next weekend in Jasna (Slovakia), with Petra Vlhova.
Second Saturday, the world champion Corinne Suter scored 80 points and moved to 70 points in the classification of the discipline of the Italian Sofia Goggia, who ended her season on injury (knee) at the end of January.
To keep her little globe, Corinne Suter will have to take one of the first two places during the last downhill of the season in Lenzerheide (Switzerland) on March 17th.
Gut-Behrami can also claim it if she wins and Suter does not finish 2nd.
Read also
World Ski Championships: two medals but… an unfinished symphony for Alexis Pinturault
