Gut-Behrami wins Sunday super-G for 40th World Cup victory
Jan 14, 2024·Alpine Skiing
It took almost half the season, but Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI) finally found her speed mojo — and recorded a double-milestone victory in the process.
The Swiss star won her 40th World Cup race and 20th in super-G on a shortened course on Sunday in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, capping off a double podium weekend and confirming her status as one of the greatest ski racers of all-time.
Skiing from the reserve start due to high winds at the top of the course, Gut-Behrami finished in 1:14.95, well ahead of Austrian pair Cornelia Huetter (AUT, +0.25s) and Mirjam Puchner (AUT, +0.26s).
"I was attacking and this is what I was looking for," Gut-Behrami said. "It was what I wanted from the top to the finish so it's a nice feeling to ski like that."
The 32-year-old is the seventh woman to reach 40 World Cup wins, with sixth-placed Anja Paerson (SWE) in her sights on 42, and her 20 super-G wins trail only Lindsey Vonn's (USA) record of 28.
Despite her super-G pedigree, however, Gut-Behrami had struggled to reach her top form in the discipline this season prior to Sunday.
She won the opening two giant slalom races of the campaign and often mentioned being unable to find her groove in subsequent speed races, carving GS turns even on longer skis.
But her third place in Friday's first super-G was a step in the right direction and the stars aligned for her on Sunday with the shortened course and technical turns suiting her considerable super-G skillset.
"I have a lot of confidence on GS skis and I've been racing well, and now I was trying to translate that onto the speed skis and I think these days here on such a nice slope have helped me a lot," she said.
"The last races something was still missing and today I felt nice on the skis and this made me fast."
Skiing as the second-last of the top seeds with bib No.14, Gut-Behrami skied a different line from everyone else even before the first gate, and immediately dislodged the skier before her, Huetter, from the leader's chair.
After her impressive win on home snow on Friday, Huetter struggled with emotion and a lack of sleep in Saturday's downhill, finishing 16th, but recovered on Sunday to reach her third super-G podium in four races this season.
"Yesterday it was a hard race because I had not the best feeling in my mind," she admitted. "Today I tried to ski like on Friday. And it was really good, it was attacking, a few mistakes but that's racing."
Huetter retained her lead in the super-G standings and joined Puchner for the second consecutive double Austrian podium after Puchner and Stephanie Venier (AUT) were in the top three in Saturday's downhill.
Skiing with bib No.20 after the top seeds had finished, Puchner led Gut-Behrami's time by over half a second halfway down the course. Although she fell away on the lower section, the local favourite was delighted to finish third.
"I'm really happy about this weekend," said Puchner, who grew up about 30 minutes' drive from Altenmarkt-Zauchensee. "I have always had trouble with this slope so it's very nice to have two podiums here."
With the Austrian triple speed weekend now in the books, the focus of the women's tour returns to technical skiing in the coming days, with a night slalom in Flachau on Tuesday before giant slalom and slalom races in Jasna next weekend.
