“I was very bad as a child”: will Brignone still be a danger to Lara Gut-Behrami?

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Lara Gut-Behrami (32) or Mikaela Shiffrin (28, USA) – one of the two will win the overall World Cup. The advantages are clearly on the Swiss side, they have a lead of 205 points. Shiffrin only returns to the World Cup the following weekend – before that Gut-Behrami can further extend her lead in Kvitfjell (no.). But what if everything turns out differently than we think?

Hardly anyone talks about Federica Brignone. The 33-year-old Italian is 286 points behind in the battle for the big crystal ball. With eight races to go (4 speed, 4 technical) that is a lot. “Thank you for forgetting me until now,” Brignone says to Blick, smiling. In fact, the power woman from the Aosta Valley fits the underdog role like no other. She even thrives in her position as an outsider. “I prefer to think it won’t work. “That I’m not going to succeed,” she says.

“Lara is phenomenal”

Is that just an understatement? You would think. However, this does not apply in the case of Bringnone. “I love skiing. But I don’t really believe in myself,” she openly admits. Neither the overall World Cup victory in 2020, nor the combined World Cup gold in 2023, nor the 24 World Cup victories have changed her low self confidence.

«As a child I was very bad at skiing. I played a lot of sports and only liked skiing because of my friends.” It was very different for Lara Gut-Behrami (32), who made her World Cup debut with her in 2009. “It was clear from early on that she would become champion. Lara is phenomenal.”

She wants to “play the game to the end”

Just like Gut-Behrami with her father Pauli Gut, Brignone also has a family member as a coach: her brother Davide. She is often assisted by her mother, former slalom star Maria Rosa Quario (62). “Until I was 27, I didn’t want anyone from my family with me in the winter. You know, I’m hard to work with. But today I really appreciate them being there.” As little self-confidence as Brignone may have, she is in fact considered very impulsive. The tiger design of her helmet speaks volumes. “She chose the tiger because she is a great fighter,” says her mother.

Will all this be enough to win the overall World Cup again? After all, Brignone says: “Physically I have never been so strong. I’m not tired either. And as long as it is theoretically possible, I will play the game to the end.” So a small declaration of war.

Source : Blick