The Swiss ski racer Lara Gut-Behrami won the giant slalom at Kronplatz in a convincing manner and moved further ahead of Mikaela Shiffrin, who is leading the overall World Cup. The 32-year-old won the race in South Tyrol on Tuesday in 2:00.64 minutes, more than a second ahead of New Zealand’s Alice Robinson and Sweden’s Sara Hector (+1.09), who shared second place at the same time. The only German starter, Fabiana Dorigo, did not make it into the second round in 50th place, just five seconds behind.
With the 42nd World Cup victory of her career, Gut-Behrami moved level with the Swede Anja Pärson in the “all-time” list of the best World Cup victories; only five runners were more successful. Number one is the American Mikaela Shiffrin with 92 wins.
For Gut-Behrami it was the fifth win of the season. The Olympic bronze medalist won the first two races this winter in the giant slalom and then came second twice, as well as winning twice in the Super-G. In the overall ranking, with 1114 points, she is only 95 points behind Shiffrin (1209). The American did not start at Kronplatz. She fell heavily on the first of two descents in Cortina d’Ampezzo last Friday and has been sidelined ever since.
“Mikaela is doing relatively well”
However, the 28-year-old is already working on her comeback again. “Mikaela is doing relatively well, considering the circumstances. “Nothing serious happened, no broken bones, no torn ligaments,” said US alpine director Patrick Riml on ORF on Tuesday. An overstretching of the inner ligament in the knee was discovered.
Shiffrin lost his balance after a bump in Cortina, fell and crashed into the safety net. She then had to be treated for several minutes and then limped off the slopes, supported by carers, her face contorted in pain.
Shiffrin’s friend Aleksander Aamodt Kilde is also currently injured. However, after his serious crash in Wengen, in which he sustained injuries to his shoulder and shin, he will no longer be able to compete in any races this season.
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Your return could be possible as early as February 10th and 11th in Soldeu (Andorra), said Riml. “Often you take one step forward and two steps back,” he said. “We have to be patient.” There is a giant slalom and a slalom coming up in Soldeu. The speed events in Garmisch-Partenkirchen planned for the coming weekend were canceled on Monday due to the weather.
