Ex-SRF expert was Gut-Behrami’s biggest critic: “She didn’t really like me”

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It’s a ball that means everything to her. And Lara Gut-Behrami is about to win the award for the first time. The Ticino woman is 135 points ahead of Federica Brignone (33, It) in the Giant Slalom World Cup. There are two races left.

She was able to empty the crystal ball of discipline this weekend in Are (Sd). Michael Bont (50) does not doubt for a second that Gut-Behrami will close the bag. “She drives brilliantly, just cool,” says the driver from Graubünden.

That wasn’t always the case. Judgement. At the 2019 World Cup, Gut-Behrami will also be at the start of the giant slalom in Are. But favorite like today? No, it’s far from that. After the first run she is 19th and eventually 21st. She loses 3.07 seconds to the top without any major mistakes. At the time, Bont analyzed the races on site as an SRF expert. And said: “It cannot continue like this in the giant slalom. Lara has big tasks to solve. Otherwise she will completely lose touch.”

“She didn’t really like me.”

Three years ago there were even quite a few people who suggested that Gut-Behrami should abandon the giant slalom in the future – for them hops and malt are lost. ‘I think it’s great that Lara didn’t give up. It was worth it,” says Bont.

The former successful coach of the Finnish slalom heroine Tanja Poutiainen (43) admits that he himself had a difficult relationship with Gut-Behrami. ‘She didn’t like me that much. But that’s okay, she didn’t have to seek advice from experts, she had to come to the conclusion herself that she had to change something. And that’s exactly what Lara did.

Almost four years without a huge podium finish

Not only did Gut-Behrami stay on the ball after the 2019 World Cup, at some point she also got her timing problem and her slip phases at the beginning of the turns under control. «Drifting is great if you can do it. But you can’t do it all the time, you can only use it in specific situations,” says Bont.

At the end of January 2021, the time had come: after a dry period of four years, Gut-Behrami reached the World Cup podium in the giant slalom again. Shortly afterwards she was crowned world champion in giant slalom in Cortina (Italy).

Niederreiter also noticed: it doesn’t work that way

Bont doesn’t know when Gut-Behrami realized she had to change something about her driving style. He emphasizes that other athletes will also have to deal with radical changes at some point.

The current athletics coach of the Swiss NHL crack Nino Niederreiter (31) explains: “When you were almost not allowed to do anything in the US due to Corona, Nino not only played, but also watched a lot of games on TV. Only then did he realize what speed other players had. He called me and said, ‘Michi, we have to change something. I have to go faster too! › We then worked on this together with a skating coach and made some changes in the athletics training. It worked.”

And today? Bont says: “Lara had the courage to adapt. It’s great to see her skiing.”

Source : Blick