Gut-Behrami Wins Super-G Globe
Despite heavy rain overnight and humidity into the early hours of Friday, temperatures cooperated, and the sun was shining for both the women's and men’s super-G.
The Czech Republic’s Ester Ledecka won Friday’s super-G, followed by Italy’s Federica Brignone .28 seconds off the pace, and Norway’s Kajsa Lie Vickhoff in third, .30 out. Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami was seventh, but she finished strong enough to walk away with the super-G Crystal Globe to add to her impressive collection this season.
Three down, just one to go for Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI) after she added the Audi FIS World Cup super-G Crystal Globe to her growing collection with a brilliant, fearless display at the Finals in Saalbach, Austria.
Five days after she claimed a longed-for first giant slalom Globe and secured a second ever overall title, the Swiss flier started the final super-G knowing her 69-point advantage at the top of the standings meant she was in prime position.
But with second-placed Conny Huetter (AUT) and Federica Brignone (ITA) – 74 points back in third – hovering and facing a soft, heavily salted Ullie Maier course, Gut-Behrami still needed to go out and perform.
The 32-year-old did just that.
Pushing hard out the gate, she was lightening on the fast, direct top section and beautifully controlled through the technical mid and lower parts to finish in a time of one minute 16.46 seconds.
Out after Gut-Behrami, Brignone and Huetter threw everything at it in an attempt to somehow catch the undoubted skier of the season, but it was not to be.
Second place on the day for Brignone – 0.28 seconds behind winner Ester Ledecka (CZE) – propelled her into second place in the super-G Globe race. While Huetter, who lost control in sight of the finish as she attempted to squeeze every last millisecond out of the course, ended fifth on the day to drop to third overall.
“Of course I am super happy with the result, winning the Globe was what I wanted,” Gut-Behrami said. “In the end I also think this is one of the best races I have done in these conditions. It’s pretty soft and pretty straight – not my favourite thing. I made a few mistakes on top but altogether it was a pretty solid run.”
Gut-Behrami joins Lindsey Vonn (USA) and Katja Seizinger (GER) as a five-time super-G World Cup champion and emulates one of her childhood idols, Vreni Schneider (SUI) who was the last Swiss woman to win three Globes in a season, a feat she achieved back in 1994/95.
A winner eight times this season already across three different disciplines, Gut-Behrami has one more record in her sights. She will start Saturday’s downhill 68 points ahead of Stephanie Venier in the standings, knowing one more solid ski will make her just the fourth woman ever to win four Crystal Globes in a single season.
“I am happy that tomorrow is going to be a pretty challenging race similar as the race we had today. I am just going to take everything I had today. The way I skied, the way I did the mistakes, what I have to improve, what I have to avoid and I am just going to try tomorrow to show another nice run” said Gut-Behrami who will emulate Vonn, Mikael Shiffrin (USA) and Tina Maze (SLO) if she can secure a fourth Globe.
"It’s not done yet. Today I went to the start and I had my mind I want to try to win this race. I want to try to ski super fast. This is the safe way to get things done" said Gut-Behrami
Second in the fight for the Big Globe, second in the GS standings and now second in super-G, Brignone could only applaud her rival.
“Lara was so much better than me, she had an amazing season. What she did was really crazy and it was just so nice to fight with her,” the Italian said, after a season in which she has won six times and had a further seven podium finishes.
Federica Brignone has had her best World Cup season ever
“This season I just said I will try to enjoy. For sure I worked really hard, my 100% but I said whatever comes is just a gift but actually it was my best of the career,” the 33-year-old added.
“I am really proud of myself about my skiing and the way I am still on it.”
Ledecka shows her enduring class
Ledecka is another skier ending the season with a broad smile on her face. The double discipline star missed all of the 2022/23 Alpine skiing and Alpine snowboard action with injury and struggled in the early part of this season with illness, but she has found her groove in style in recent weeks.
Eighth, fourth and third in her three super-G races coming into Saalbach, Ledecka produced exactly the kind of fearless, full gas run that delivered her an Olympic super-G gold medal back in 2018.
“It was an amazing run and I am very happy for my team. They really deserve it. They worked really hard the whole season,” she said after securing a first World Cup win in more than two years. “It’s really cool. I really enjoyed the run. It was a great day.”
Not content with also just dazzling on her snowboard, Ledecka will soon turn her attention to summer sport and the warm, spring-like conditions in Austria gave her a head-start.
“I think summer preparation for the water-skiing really paid off, it was really perfect, the only thing missing with a buoy at the finish,” Ledecka joked, before adding seriously, “They did an amazing job with the slope. It was great to ski.”
Third-placed Kasja Vickhoff Lie (NOR) was in firm agreement.
“Conditions-wise it’s actually quite nice. I am a Norwegian, I love salt so it’s fun,” she said after continuing a great run of recent form for the Norwegian women’s team.
On Saturday, the squad will face the prospect of racing alongside teammate Ragnhild Mowinckel for the final time. Something Lie is not looking forward to.
“I don’t want to think about it before tomorrow,” she said with a grimace.
For the Americans Lauren Macuga wrapped her breakthrough 2023-24 season with a solid 14th place and earned herself some World Cup points to boot on Friday, March 22, at the final super-G of the year in Saalbach, Austria.
Out of the gate bib 5, Macuga skied a run she could be proud of to close a standout season in which she ended up ranked 13th in the world in the discipline.
“Nothing has really set in,” the 21-year-old reflected on her season, which featured three top-10 results, including a career-best top-five in Kvitfjell. “It’s still crazy to think about it…it’s been incredible. I was just hoping for a super-G point this year, and now here I am running super-G at Finals. I don’t know, something clicked, and I’m just having fun.”
The Czech Republic’s Ester Ledecka won Friday’s super-G, followed by Italy’s Federica Brignone .28 seconds off the pace, and Norway’s Kajsa Lie Vickhoff in third, .30 out. Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami was seventh, but she finished strong enough to walk away with the super-G Crystal Globe to add to her impressive collection this season.
Though Mikaela Shiffrin wasn’t racing the super-G, she and teammate Jackie Wiles were in the finish area to support Macuga, or “Cougs,” as the team calls her, cheering for her as she crossed the finish line. The women’s speed team has had a great vibe all season, and Macuga is a big reason for that positive energy.
“The team is really good, obviously,” she said with a laugh after Wiles and Shiffrin hugged her. We have so much fun, and I think that’s what helps a lot. We enjoy being here, we all hang out…, and we get some mad Catan games going.”
Up next for Macuga is a camp at Palisades, Tahoe, for some slalom and giant slalom.
