Eight years after her first big crystal globe, Swiss skier Lara Gut-Behrami won the general classification of the Alpine Ski World Cup for the second time, also winning her first globe at the end of the Saalbach giant on Sunday. the speciality.
At 32 years old and while she expressed her doubts last summer about the rest of her career, Lara Gut-Behrami is still in the running to win two other globes by the end of the winter, since she is provisionally at the top of the downhill and super-G rankings, the finals of which take place next week.
Sunday in the Austrian resort, the Ticino certainly appeared less sharp than usual on soft snow and in spring conditions which she did not like but she ensured the minimum: 10th in the last giant of the winter won by a Federica Sparkling Brignone, enough place to win his first globe as a giant and win the general classification.
“It’s just great”
“It’s incredible, the giant has always been very important to me so to win this globe, it’s just great,” explained Gut-Behrami, Olympic super-G champion, her discipline, to the microphone of the International Ski Federation. of choice in which she has already won four globes.
𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐄 𝐋'𝐀 𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐓.
Lara Gut-Behrami 🇨🇭 wins the general classification and the globe of the discipline, well done champion!
#ChaletClub pic.twitter.com/miKW1gYj9F
— Eurosport France (@Eurosport_FR) March 17, 2024
“I was very stressed today because I really wanted to win this globe, I skied badly but in the end I performed and that was enough,” added Lara Gut-Behrami, 90 podiums including 45 victories in the Coupe du world (including 16 podiums and eight victories this season).
The Swiss knew it before setting off on Sunday: without Mikaela Shiffrin who gave up the general after her fall in Italy at the end of January, only Federica Brignone was still mathematically able to worry her and, in the event of a victory for the Italian, Gut-Behrami had to finish in the top fifteen to be uncatchable.
Gut-Behrami still in the running for the downhill and super-G globes
Fluid without being sharp in the first as in the second round, Gut-Behrami displayed a satisfied smile as she crossed the finish line, realizing that her provisional ranking would be enough to be crowned on Sunday.
For her part, even if she knew that she was no longer in the race to win the globe, “Fede” Brignone, already excellent on the first route, produced a fantastic second round to win the last giant of the world in style. in winter, ahead of her rivals of the day by more than a second: the New Zealander Alice Robinson (2nd at +1 sec 36) and the Norwegian Thea Louise Stjernesund (3rd +1 sec 67).
The Alpine Skiing World Cup ends on March 23 and 24 with a downhill and a super-G, two disciplines in which Lara Gut-Behrami is also provisionally at the top of the rankings.
If she wins both globes quickly, she would join skiing legends Lindsey Vonn, Tina Maze and Mikaela Shiffrin, the only skiers to have managed to win four globes at the end of the same winter.