The Swiss ski racer Lara Gut-Behrami won the overall World Cup early. For the 32-year-old, tenth place in the giant slalom in Saalbach-Hinterglemm was enough to mathematically secure the big crystal ball. In addition, the experienced athlete also won the discipline ranking in the giant slalom – in downhill and super-G, Gut-Behrami can even put together a historic four-pack of balls next weekend.
The last remaining rival in the battle for the ratings was Federica Brignone in Austria. She won the giant slalom ahead of Alice Robinson from New Zealand (1.36 seconds) and Thea Louise Stjernesund from Norway (1.67). In the end, it wasn’t enough for the Italian to intercept Gut-Behrami – who drove without taking any great risks and thus scored the necessary points.
Given the deficit in the overall and discipline World Cup, the Italian had hardly expected any chance of winning the coup before the season finale. The only German starter, Lena Dürr, came in 21st.
Meanwhile, Gut-Behrami crowned a strong season with her second overall World Cup after 2016. The Swiss consistently scored points in four disciplines and also benefited from the injury absence of top favorite Mikaela Shiffrin in recent weeks. The American missed several races in which Gut-Behrami overtook her in the overall standings.
Shiffrin recently got fit again and promptly won the slaloms in Are last week and in Saalbach on Saturday. She then skipped the giant slalom a day later and will not take part in the final two speed races next weekend.
