Gut continues unbeaten super-G streak at Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Lara Gut of Switzerland continued her unbeaten streak this season in super-G at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, taking the win a convincing 0.67 seconds ahead of first-time podium finisher Stephanie Venier of Austria. Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein rounded out the podium in third place for her third straight podium finish in the discipline this winter.

A challenging course set swallowed up 23 athletes who failed to finish, including crowd favorite Viktoria Rebenburg. Even Gut wasn't convinced when she crossed the finish line that her performance was going to be enough for victory, shaking her head in front of the camera operator.

"Our coaches set the super-G, and it was, for sure, more difficult than usually. Lake Louise was really an easy super-G, and in Val d’Isere we had a lot of space between the gates. And here it was again more technical," Gut noted. "I had to ski with my head, and I wasn’t so clean on my lines and not even on the ski. I had the feeling where it was turny in the middle part that I should have skied more on my skis and not just as a passenger of my skis. So I wasn’t really satisfied about that. But that’s the cool thing, when the course setting is difficult, that everyone has to come to the finish and try at least to ski. So today, I was just lucky because of that.”

Venier also felt lucky to collect her first World Cup podium finish ever, in second place. She was knocking on the podium door after a sixth-place finish in the Val d'Isere super-G, but she admitted that the result in Garmisch-Partenkirchen still came as a bit of a surprise to her.

"Everything is special," said Venier. "I’m on the podium and it’s great, and it’s feeling so good and I’m so happy."

Weirather, meanwhile, was reluctant to believe she had secured the 30th podium finish of her career and third straight of the season in super-G until the very last racer was across the finish line.

"Today, I really didn’t feel like it was going to be a good result when I crossed the finish line. But I think it’s just my super-G skiing is by far my best discipline right now, so I don’t need to have a perfect run to be further ahead than in downhill, for example, where I ski great and sometimes I end up 10th," said Weirather. "Right now, they’re still pretty fast, so I will wait until I get too excited."

By the awards ceremony, Weirather was assured of her milestone podium result and able to enjoy the celebration.

Both Anna Veith and Lindsey Vonn made their returns to super-G competition, Veith skiing out after posting a fast top section and Vonn ultimately finishing ninth.

The ladies' tour rolls on to a standalone giant slalom race in Kronplatz, Italy, on Tuesday 24 January.

Complete results from this super-G are available here.