Sölden Thursday: Braathen back, Gut-Behrami motivated, Odermatt 'beatable' & Norwegians fired-up

Alpine skiing's biggest stars were out in force in Sölden on Thursday, celebrating the start of the 2024/25 Audi FIS World Cup action.

With both the women's (Saturday 10:00/13:00 CET) and men's (Sunday 10:00/13:00 CET) giant slalom season starters looming, skiers from Lucas Braathen (BRA) to Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI), Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT) and Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR), plus many more, took the opportunity to share their stories.

Braathen back 'to be the best'

Twelve months after he tearfully announced he was retiring from Alpine ski racing, an equally emotional Lucas Braathen (BRA) was back in Sölden, Austria on Thursday to tell the world: “I did not come back to the sport to be anything else than the best”.

Smiling, and occasionally crying, the 2023 World Cup slalom Globe winner wasted no time in revealing just how he intends to reach the top of the podium once more.

First up, it is all about approach and philosophy:

“In order to become best, you need to dare to do things differently,” said Braathen, whose one-man team has the support of the Brazilian Snowsport Federation. “I would say that one of the strongest values and philosophies that are to be found in this team is the fact that we encourage instead of looking down on differences within the team. Because it is the difference that creates the wide range and the edge that we can have upon our competitors.”

It all starts with Braathen himself.

“I remember I changed my accents growing up. I changed the way I dress. I changed and faked my interests and being a kid, moving from one place to the other constantly, I became very good at that,” he said in Sölden.

“And 18 years of living is what it took for me to realise that I'm not for everyone. Eighteen years is what it took for me to realise that I can't be liked by everyone. Eighteen years is what it took for me to realise that I'd lost myself on this desperate pursuit of being like everyone else.”

Brazil was one of the first places Braathen went after leaving Sölden in 2023. And it was there he started to slowly realise he was not done.

“For me, skiing is a spiritual dance with elements of nature and which I was introduced to when playing football in the streets of Brazil,” Braathen said. “It's been ever since I stepped my foot into this crazy game of Alpine ski racing, I've always wanted to bring that atmosphere that I get to experience in the streets of Brazil into the sport.”

By January this year he was watching World Cup racing once more. And he soon had a stark revelation: “I definitely realised that this show was meant to have me in it.”

Knowing what he wanted and how he wanted to go about it, Braathen’s next step was to see how his peers felt.

“I went to Saalbach (AUT) during the finish finishing races of the World Cup finals,” Braathen explained. 

“And I remember I was met by Cyprien (Sarrazin, FRA). He was just giving me the biggest hug and just welcoming me back and and he literally asked me how we together could shake it up.”

With that final piece of the puzzle in place, now all Braathen has to do is what he knows best. The fact his Brazilian-born mother and her side of his family are all planning to watch him race live this season for the very first time, makes all the hardship worthwhile. As does the idea of inspiring some young Brazilians to believe in themselves.

“What I am is an athlete representing 200 million Brazilians in the sport of Alpine skiing, and that chapter starts on Sunday,” Braathen said. “And I'm not stopping until I have brought that flag to the very top.”

Gut-Behrami: ‘I have the feeling I am not done yet’

Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI) may already have an Olympic title, two world championship golds and 45 World Cup victories to her name – not to mention eight Crystal Globes including the Big one last season – but the 33-year-old revealed on Thursday that she still has the drive to keep on winning.

“Sometimes I'm asking myself why I'm doing it? Because it's not one win more that is going to make the difference, but it's I also have the feeling I'm not done yet,” Gut-Behrami said in Sölden.

“I see two pictures of me skiing, and I'm like, OK, I'm ready to go." 

The Swiss star, who also won the GS and super G World Cup titles last season and finished just 28 points short of adding the downhill crown, then revealed what her mental mountain is. And how she overcomes it. 

“For me, the big challenge is to find a balance between what it takes and what it needs to ski fast, and what my life is. I am 33 years old and I enjoy what I have besides skiing,” Gut-Behrami shared. 

“Sometimes, I just try to be kind to myself and accept that I have this wish that I could stop everything, stay home and be with my family, with my husband. And other days I'm just so happy to be on the snow.

“I think it’s normal, I have been on the circuit for 17 years and it’s kind of OK to feel like that in the last years of my career.”

She has the chance to add yet another accolade on Saturday. One more win in Sölden and Gut-Behrami becomes the resort’s most successful women’s GS World Cup skier ever.

Kriechmayr on Odermatt: ‘He’s beatable’

After an off-season during which he has grinded to iron out kinks in his technique, double 2021 speed world champion Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT) was quick to stress that reigning downhill and super-G World Cup winner Marco Odermatt (SUI) should not be feared.

“He's quite impressive but he's beatable,” Kriechmayr said in Sölden on Thursday. “Marco is making everyone better, and so I hope this year we can close the gap a little bit.”

The Austrian struggled to match his usual standards in the downhill last season, managing just one podium and two top-five finishes. And despite faring far better in super-G (two wins and three top-fives) Kriechmayr has spent his summer hard at it.

“Last year I was a little bit struggling with my technique, and so I was trying to fix it, make it better,” he said. “You push in every part, not only the technique, also the mentality, also the physical components, also the materials.

“So, I tried to get better in every part and we will see how well it worked.”

Haugan & Lie loving life as GS skiers

Compatriots Timon Haugan and Kasja Vickhoff Lie are revelling in their new-found status in Sölden as genuine World Cup giant slalom contenders.

After a season in which Haugan, previously a slalom specialist, grabbed his maiden podium finish and Lie, a speed demon, took a top-10 in her first ever World Cup GS, the Norwegian pair will start 2024/25 with big ambitions.

“I've been trying to make it in GS for many, many years and last year I just had this one second run where I had the fastest time in Alta Badia (ITA) and that just gave me so much confidence,” Haugan said in Sölden. “I proved to myself that I can be one of the best guys in GS as well. It was just a mental thing for me, a confidence thing.

“It's the first time I'm going into Sölden feeling I actually have something to do here. So that's nice, yeah, it's very nice. It's really cool.”

Lie knows exactly what her friend is talking about. The 26-year-old may have a win and five podium finishes to her name in the speed disciplines, but she’s long eyed up the GS.  

“It's been always a dream of mine to do GS. It was a goal when I came to the World Cup team that I wanted to join the speed team first… but when I got 500 points in the World Cup I really wanted to do GS,” Lie said. “It’s just a really cool feeling racing GS. You can always attack. It’s never over.

“So, yeah I feel confident and I am happy to try as much GS as I can.”

And finally… teammate Kristoffersen ready to win again

Fellow Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen is no stranger to the GS. The 30-year-old is a GS world champion (2019) and Olympic medallist (2018) not to mention World Cup Globe winner (2020).

But after an up-and-down GS 2023/24 (one podium and two top-fives) Kristoffersen is also delighted to be starting Sölden feeling good.

The Norwegian added, "I am very happy with the equipment and everything. It’s fun skiing at the moment to be honest, and that’s nice, that’s really cool.”

Fourth in the standings last year behind the all-conquering Odermatt, Kristoffersen seems certain he has found the right set up.

“We changed a bit from last year, and it's for me, working really well,” he added. “Boots are the same. Skis are the same (but) there are other things that have changed on how we tune the skis, which has changed a lot for me.”