Lara Gut-Behrami wins the first Downhill race in Crans Montana and achieves her seventh victory of the season, and fourth in a row, consolidating her lead in the World Cup Overall standings 105 points ahead of Mikaela Shiffrin. She finished ahead of Cornelia Hütter and Jasmine Flury who shared second place 0.21 seconds behind Gut-Behrami. Due to the warm weather, the first Downhill in Crans-Montana was shortened, with the finish line moved up four gates avoiding the Final Jump.
It's her first victory in the Downhill World Cup in more than two years. She achieved her last victory in Downhill in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee on January 15, 2022.
Gut-Behrami has won 13 women's World Cup Downhills, for a total of 22 podiums. The 32-year-old Swiss looks unstoppable at the moment and celebrated her 44th win in the Alpine Ski World Cup. It's her 86th podium in the World Cup.
The skier from Ticino has won three Downhill races in Crans Montana including back-to-back victories on February 202, and finished in second place in 2021.
Gut-Behrami is in second place in the Downhill standings with 309 points, 41 points behind Sofia Goggia who after her injury will not race again this season.
"The snow is a bit soft, you have to fight and it's tiring to ski. It definitely wasn't easy today. It didn't feel nice, but I gave it my all. I'm not an expert on soft snow, so I had to change my plan and skied differently than I had planned. I'll do my best tomorrow too, but today I noticed how little it takes to fail", Gut-Behrami said.
Cornelia Hütter has finished on the podium 26 times, all of them in speed events. She climbed up to the podium Downhill in the World Cup 14 times, the last time before today in Val d'Isère on December 2023. Two years ago Hütter suffered a traumatic brain injury after a serious fall in the finish jump in Crans Montana.
"Two years ago my career was on the rocks here, it was tougher than I thought. But I checked it, even though I was a little uneasy when I looked at it. The fact that the finish line was moved up suited me and I preferred it", Hütter said.
The Downhill Gold medal in Méribel Jasmine Flury finished second to achieve her 4th podium in the World Cup, two wins and two second places.
"I had a headache last night and didn’t feel well at all. That's why I was surprised when it turned green at the finish. In the end, I'm super happy with second place. Especially because I managed to ski well, even though I haven't felt well in the last few days", Flury said.
The last eight Women's World Cup Downhills were won by eight different women: Kajsa Vickhoff Lie, Ilka Štuhec, Mikaela Shiffrin, Jasmine Flury, Sofia Goggia, Stephanie Venier, Ragnhild Mowinckel, and Lara Gut-Behrami.
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