Lara Gut-Behrami seals Super-G victory at St. Anton to secure 36th World Cup career win, Federica Brignone in second

Lara Gut-Behrami was victorious in the Women’s Super-G at St. Anton in Austria to secure her 36th career World Cup win.

Gut-Behrami was bib no. 7 and after securing third spot on Saturday, the Swiss skier could not be surpassed on this occasion that represented her 70th podium finish.

Meanwhile the podium was completed by another Italian Marta Bassino, who finished with a time of 1:17.45, 0.19 seconds behind the winner Gut-Behrami.

The course has received plenty of fresh snowfall in recent days, and provided a soft landing for Laura Gauche, who lost her balance as the first skier out of the traps after crashing into the powder.

After the top 30 skiers had all been down the course, it was the established top three of Gut-Behrami, Brignone and Bassino that would take some moving.

Ultimately, nobody could challenge that podium, as the less experienced riders struggled to deal with the early twists and turns of a challenging course.

A total of 17 riders failed to finish and the race ended on somewhat of a damp squib after the weather made a timely intervention.

The wind really picked up with the advertising banners being blown away before the last six skiers took to the course.

Following a long interruption, it was eventually decided to curtail the race which yielded only 28 finishers.

Speaking after her victory, Gut-Behrami said: “I am happy to ski like that. It’s been an amazing weekend.

“I am also looking forward to Cortina d’Ampezzo. There’s always an amazing slope and they do an amazing job there, but I also need a bit of downhill training. I’ve been skiing a lot, but a lot in GS. I didn’t ski on the speed skis since St. Moritz.

“But it’s not so hard to get used to them. Yesterday the snow was difficult, today was a little bit softer, so you always have to adapt. Sometimes you struggle with that.

“I am happy to have a few days on speed, so that I can get consistent and show some nice and fast turns on the downhill.

“When you ski while you grow up on safety, you feel confident and everything feels easier. When things don’t work it feels like a nightmare, every little thing gets harder.

“When you ski in the faster disciplines, even if you make mistakes, you’re able to go down the course quickly.”

The result leaves Brignone still top of the Super-G standings on 209 points, while Gut-Behrami is second on 192, with Elena Curtoni in third on 190.

– –