“The sky is outside”: Gut-Behrami and Co. Looking forward to a few days off

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This Sunday, Hans Flatscher claps his hands above his head a few times. The Swiss Alpine director doesn’t have much to smile about. Lara Gut-Behrami is in 6th place, that’s okay. But otherwise? Jasmina Suter (21st), Michelle Gisin (23rd), Priska Nufer (25th) get some, but only a few points. Delia Durrer and Noémie Kolly miss a goal, Stephanie Jenal and Janine Schmitt fall. And Jasmine Flury? She doesn’t even compete; during the second descent she suffered a painful blow to her knee.

“Now the air is outside,” says Flatscher. And adds: “It’s good that the riders can get away from the whole ski circus for a few days. Because since Cortina, many people have woken up, we cannot explain that away.” Three weeks ago, many female riders suffered serious injuries in the Dolomites. Especially those of Corinne Suter and Joana Hählen left scars on the team. “That has not affected us left unscathed,” says Flatscher.

The poor result in the Super-G is a consequence of this. In total, the Swiss only scored 64 points on Sunday. There haven’t been so few people in this discipline in over two years or 18 races.

Hot battle for the Super-G ball

Just like the day before, Gut-Behrami prevented a Swiss debacle. Yet she is also mentally and physically exhausted – she even threw up before the race on Saturday. “Home races always require more energy than others. We had two practices and three races. It’s good that I have some rest now.”

Gut-Behrami can travel home satisfied. In Udine (It) she briefly switches off before continuing with two Super-Gs in Val di Fassa (It). Although the Ticino woman is still in the lead in the discipline rankings (both in the giant slalom and downhill), her lead over Cornelia Hütter (Austria) is only five points.

Federica Brignone (It), second in Crans-Montana, is also not far away (34 points behind). And even Stephanie Venier (Ö), Sunday’s winner, is only 94 points behind. With four races to go, there are signs of an exciting battle for the small ball in Super-G.

Gut-Behrami: 200 points in 3 races

Gut-Behrami does not talk about such topics. But about what she wants to do better in Super-G. “I skied too fast today. My goal is to start driving better again. It wasn’t an ideal run.”

It is self-criticism at a high level. With places 1, 3 and 6, Gut-Behrami scored many important points in Crans-Montana. She increases her lead in the general classification from 5 to 205 points. There are ten races left.

The question is whether the still sidelined Mikaela Shiffrin (US) can make up for this deficit.

Source : Blick