Swiss ski star Lara Gut-Behrami has returned to winning form just in time for next month's World Championships. The defending overall World Cup champion triumphed in challenging conditions on Sunday, securing her first victory of the season in the final super-G before the World Championships, while Lindsey Vonn finished 13th.
Gut-Behrami expertly navigated the tricky turns in the middle section of the Kandahar course, earning her 46th career win and placing her in joint fifth on the all-time female winners list.
“It’s nice. I’ve been skiing well for a while but was missing something, so it’s great to win again,” Gut-Behrami said. “It’s a challenging slope, not the conditions where I ski best. It was a bit slippery and soft. Sometimes when conditions aren’t perfect, you stop overthinking.”
The World Championships will be held in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, from February 4-16, with the women’s super-G scheduled for February 6.
Gut-Behrami was particularly clean in a section that troubled many racers—a jump followed by a sharp left turn. She finished 0.35 seconds ahead of Norway’s Kajsa Vickhoff Lie, who earned her first of eight career podiums at a super-G in Garmisch-Partenkirchen four years ago.
Federica Brignone was just three-hundredths of a second behind in third, following her downhill victory on the same hill the previous day.
Sofia Goggia, runner-up to Brignone on Saturday, placed fourth, with teammates Laura Pirovano and Marta Bassino completing the top six for the Italian team.
Keely Cashman shared sixth place with Bassino, marking the American’s career-best result on a course where she suffered traumatic brain and knee injuries in a 2021 crash.
“I know it’s been four years, but it’s not something you get over quickly,” said Cashman, who had one previous top 10 result in 68 World Cup starts. “Starting today with a new mindset and achieving my personal best in a place like Garmisch feels really good.”
Vonn finished 1.4 seconds off the pace in 13th, just behind her American teammate Lauren Macuga, after failing to finish her previous two races. Vonn skied out of Saturday’s downhill after missing a gate but avoided falling.
Vonn returned to ski racing in December after nearly six years of retirement with a new titanium knee. She recently told The Associated Press that she plans to retire again after next year’s Milan-Cortina Olympics.
Last year, Gut-Behrami overtook Mikaela Shiffrin in the overall standings in the final two months of the season when the American five-time champion was sidelined with a knee injury.
Gut-Behrami had a slow start to the new season after missing the season-opening race in October but then secured three second-place finishes in super-G before her victory on Sunday.
“It’s been a weird start to the season. I was struggling a bit,” Gut-Behrami said. “I had to regain confidence and find my way back on the skis.”
Gut-Behrami has now won at least one World Cup race in 11 of the past 12 seasons, with 2018-19 being the only exception. She has closed the gap to leader Brignone in the overall standings to 70 points.
Shiffrin has been out for two months with an abdominal injury that required surgery but is expected to race again in a night slalom in France on Thursday, the final women’s race before the World Championships.
Sunday’s race start was delayed by 15 minutes as organizers needed extra time to prepare the course after overnight snowfall and rain. Ariane Raedler had a nasty fall when she lost balance over a patch of softer snow, but the Austrian quickly got up and appeared uninjured.