When Mikaela Shiffrin crashed badly in Cortina d’Ampezzo’s downhill race 26, she was leading the World Cup by far. The time since then has been spent in rehab to strengthen the injured knee. If there is a comeback in Åre’s slalom and giant slalom weekend on March 9-10, she will have missed twelve competitions.
After Åre, only the World Cup final remains in Saalbach, Austria, March 16-24.
Meanwhile, Lara Gut-Behrami has taken over the lead in the overall World Cup standings and is outpacing every race. After today’s sixth place in the super-G at home in Crans Montana, the Swiss is 205 points ahead of Shiffrin and leads the downhill, super-G and giant slalom cups.
“Glad this weekend is over”
– I had problems with the soft snow today, but overall it’s a stable weekend that I’m happy with. The competitions at home are the most intense and it’s nice that this weekend is over, says Gut-Behrami, who is chasing his first crystal ball for the total.
Marta Bassino won her first downhill race in the World Cup yesterday. Today downhill specialist Stephanie Venier won her first super-G competition.
“I had nothing to lose”
– The last few days have not been so easy for me with all the pressure and I had nothing to lose today. I made some mistakes but I’m very happy now, Venier told the AP after the finish in the tight race – the first three within 15 hundredths.
Lisa Hörnblad did not get any World Cup points from the double downhills and today’s super-G in Crans Montana. Today she drove out.