Alpine skiing
Austria’s speed women are attacking for the last time this World Cup winter. The departure on Saturday (11.15 a.m., live on ORF1) in Saalbach-Hinterglemm is the final ÖSV chance for a crystal ball in the 2023/24 Women’s World Cup. It would be the first in the speed area since Nicole Schmidhofer in the downhill in 2019. Lara Gut-Behrami once again holds the trump card. The Swiss could join an elite circle.
22.03.2024 22.00
Online since yesterday, 10 p.m
Only Lindsey Vonn (2010, 2012), Tina Maze (2013) and Mikaela Shiffrin (2019) have so far managed to conquer crystal four times in one winter. The Swiss has already won the overall, giant slalom and Super-G World Cup. With a lead of 68 points over Stephanie Venier and 72 over Cornelia Hütter, Gut-Behrami (369) is reaching for her ninth World Cup ball, her first in the downhill.
With fourth place in the Super-G, Venier gained confidence for her stronger discipline. “Go easy and give it your all, just stay calm, have fun – then it will work out,” the Tyrolean decided to perhaps stress out Gut-Behrami, who had been acting so confidently so far. “I’m definitely not going to back down. I’ll have to take risks to make her life as difficult as possible.”
Without the botched Crans-Montana weekend and the missed descent in Val d’Isere, a better starting position would have been possible for Venier (“my basic speed is fine”). “In hindsight, it bothers me that I was sick in Val d’Isere, so I missed out on a downhill,” said the Cortina winner, who had already finished second in the downhill ranking in 2019.
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No happy ending for Hütter in the Super-G
Second chance for Hütter
Hütter clearly missed the Super-G ball in fifth place on Friday. The race left its mark on her when she drove too close to a gate. The Styrian woman wanted to use physiotherapy to get the hard muscles around her shoulders under control within 24 hours. “Skiing is done with your feet and, thank God, not with your shoulders.” She didn’t make a final declaration of war on Friday, only spoke of a “chance” to “write up a few points” before the vacation.
If the coup does succeed, it would only be the second overall downhill victory for the Austrians since the retirements of Renate Götschl (last ball: 2007) and Michaela Dorfmeister (2006). The fact that the decision is still open is probably also due to the absence of Sofia Goggia. Italy’s speed queen had to write off her fourth small downhill ball in a row after breaking her shin in February and is still in second place. It is already clear that the winner will have the lowest score since Lindsey Vonn in 2013.
