Swiss skier Gut-Behrami wins super-G title; Shiffrin 14th

Thu, Mar 16, 2023
Other News (AP)

SOLDEU, Andorra (AP) - Swiss skier Lara Gut-Behrami won the women's World Cup super-G title Thursday and Mikaela Shiffrin finished 14th in her first race since setting the record for most career victories with 87.

Gut-Behrami had a near-flawless run on the Aliga course to win the last super-G of the season and overtake Italian rival Elena Curtoni in the standings. Curtoni finished 1.23 seconds behind in 10th, a day after she crashed in the downhill on the same hill.

Federica Brignone finished 0.22 seconds behind Gut-Behrami in second place. Norwegian skier Ragnhild Mowinckel was 0.47 back in third.

Gut-Behrami won the season-long super-G title for the fourth time. She also won Olympic gold in the event in 2022 and the world title in 2021, and was the overall World Cup champion in 2016.

After her triumph in St. Anton two months ago, Gut-Behrami became the only skier this season with multiple super-G victories.

While all other disciplines titles had been decided before the final week, five racers had a shot at the super-G globe coming into the race after the previous seven races produced seven different winners.

Shiffrin won once, in St. Moritz in December, but was out of contention for the discipline title after sitting out three races.

On Thursday, the American avoided risks in her run and trailed leader Gut-Behrami by 0.79 seconds at the first split. She slowed before a jump but picked up time again by posting the fastest time in the finishing sector. She ended up 1.46 seconds behind Gut-Behrami.

Shiffrin has locked up the overall, giant slalom and slalom titles this season before the last races in her strongest events. The final slalom is on Saturday and the giant slalom is Sunday.

Thursday's race was interrupted after a crash from Kira Weidle, who lost balance when her ski tips crossed after a jump and slid into the safety nets. The German skier appeared to be unhurt.

The race was the last for Nicole Schmidhofer, who skied down at a leisurely pace and hugged coaches along the course. The Austrian skier, who was the super-G world champion in 2017 and won four World Cup races, announced her retirement on the eve of the race.

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