Gut Celebrates First Win Since Injury

By Published On: January 21st, 2018Comments Off on Gut Celebrates First Win Since Injury

On Sunday, Lara Gut ended a year-long victory drought by winning the challenging super-G in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. The Austrians set “a very unrhythmical, tricky course,” according to U.S. Ski Team coach Chris Knight. That coupled with intense gusts of wind, poor visibility and use of the reserve start made for an interesting day that eventually forced the jury and organizers to terminate the race after 44 athletes.

Big names like Italy’s Sofia Goggia and Mikaela Shiffrin of the U.S. both did not finish while American Breezy Johnson did not have the opportunity to start. Still, the results were valid.

The Swiss skier last stood on the top spot in World Cup at the same venue in the 2017 downhill. She bested Italy’s Johanna Schnarf and reigning Super-G World Champion Nicole Schmidhofer with a time of 1:14.78.

“It’s good to be back, to be back winning,” Gut said.

The victory also marked her first time winning since February 2017 when she suffered a knee injury that sidelined her for the remainder of the season after World Championships. It was also the 12th super-G win of her career. Gut felt like this race was where she found her balance.

“I crashed in St. Moritz, but I was feeling fast. In Val d’Isere, the results weren’t there, but my skiing was alright, so super-G it has already been great from the beginning…It’s some amount of time after an injury, you have somehow to find the balance between patience and pushing forward,” Gut said.

Schnarf and Schmidhofer handled the challenges better than the rest of the field to finish second and third, respectively. For the Italian, it was special to stand on the podium on home snow. She had been absent from the podium for 8 years. Her last and only other World Cup podium result was in the Crans Montana, Switzerland, in March 2010.

“It means a lot to me because one: it’s my second podium since 10 years,” Schnarf said. “And two: it’s so near to my home it’s like a home race. I love Cortina. I love the mountains here in Cortina and my family was here, my mom, my husband. It’s just amazing.”

Nicole Schmidhofer celebrates her third place finish in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. // Image Credit: Christophe Pallot/Agence Zoom

Schmidhofer has made a limited number of World Cup podium performances in her career as well, appearing a total of four times including Sunday’s result. Seventy-five percent of those finishes came at Cortina, so this venue has always been friendly to the Austrian.

“It’s a really good slope for me, and the run today was really tricky from our coach,” she said.

After winning Saturday’s downhill, it was a tough day for American Lindsey Vonn, who ended the day in sixth place. The ski racing powerhouse tweeted an explanation just minutes after her run, typing “Well an unlucky day…never had such a strong wind gust in a race ever in my life. Oh well, can’t change it. I’ll save the good luck for February I guess. Now go USA!!!”

The rest of her teammates had solid performances. Jacqueline Wiles skied to one of her best super-G results of the season, coming in 19th after yesterday’s downhill podium. Laurenne Ross and Alice McKennis ended up 21st and 23rd, respectively. Alice Merryweather and Stacey Cook did not finish.

The next stop for the ladies’ tour is Kronplatz, Italy, for the giant slalom.


Top 10

  1. Lara Gut (SUI) – Head / Head / Head
  2. Johanna Schnarf (ITA) – Fischer / Fischer / Fischer
  3. Nicole Schmidhofer (AUT) – Fischer / Fischer / Fischer
  4. Anna Veith (AUT) – Head / Head / Head
  5. Tina Weirather (LIE) – Head / Head / Head
  6. Lindsey Vonn (USA) – Head / Head / Head
  7. Tamara Tippler (AUT) – Volkl / Dalbello / Marker
  8. Ragnhild Mowinckel (NOR) – Head / Head / Head
  9. Ramona Siebenhofer (AUT) – Head / Head / Head
  10. Michelle Gisin (SUI) – Rossignol Look / Rossignol

Official Results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time Diff. FIS Points WC Points
 1  7  516138 GUT Lara 1991 SUI  1:14.78  0.00  100
 2  1  296427 SCHNARF Johanna 1984 ITA  1:14.92  +0.14  2.02  80
 3  15  55970 SCHMIDHOFER Nicole 1989 AUT  1:15.05  +0.27  3.90  60
 4  3  55947 VEITH Anna 1989 AUT  1:15.09  +0.31  4.48  50
 5  9  355050 WEIRATHER Tina 1989 LIE  1:15.11  +0.33  4.77  45
 6  6  537544 VONN Lindsey 1984 USA  1:15.15  +0.37  5.34  40
 7  22  56088 TIPPLER Tamara 1991 AUT  1:15.28  +0.50  7.22  36
 8  17  425929 MOWINCKEL Ragnhild 1992 NOR  1:15.29  +0.51  7.37  32
 9  24  56087 SIEBENHOFER Ramona 1991 AUT  1:15.68  +0.90  13.00  29
 10  4  516284 GISIN Michelle 1993 SUI  1:15.75  +0.97  14.01  26
 11  12  516319 SUTER Corinne 1994 SUI  1:15.84  +1.06  15.31  24
 12  14  516185 HAEHLEN Joana 1992 SUI  1:15.93  +1.15  16.61  22
 13  27  516219 NUFER Priska 1992 SUI  1:15.97  +1.19  17.19  20
 14  18  196928 WORLEY Tessa 1989 FRA  1:16.08  +1.30  18.78  18
 15  11  56128 HUETTER Cornelia 1992 AUT  1:16.19  +1.41  20.36  16
 16  28  197497 MIRADOLI Romane 1994 FRA  1:16.27  +1.49  21.52  15
 17  23  197295 PIOT Jennifer 1992 FRA  1:16.31  +1.53  22.10  14
 18  10  197383 GAUTHIER Tiffany 1993 FRA  1:16.32  +1.54  22.24  13
 19  35  539536 WILES Jacqueline 1992 USA  1:16.36  +1.58  22.82  12
 20  42  299276 BASSINO Marta 1996 ITA  1:16.44  +1.66  23.97  11
 21  30  538573 ROSS Laurenne 1988 USA  1:16.74  +1.96  28.31  10
 22  34  506701 HOERNBLAD Lisa 1996 SWE  1:17.10  +2.32  33.51  9
 23  37  538685 MCKENNIS Alice 1989 USA  1:17.16  +2.38  34.37  8
 24  39  196726 BARTHET Anne-Sophie 1988 FRA  1:17.28  +2.50  36.11  7
 24  8  296729 FANCHINI Nadia 1986 ITA  1:17.28  +2.50  36.11  7
 26  33  56328 ORTLIEB Nina 1996 AUT  1:17.37  +2.59  37.41  5
 27  38  206460 WENIG Michaela 1992 GER  1:17.53  +2.75  39.72  4
 28  2  56174 HAASER Ricarda 1993 AUT  1:17.72  +2.94  42.46  3
Did not finish 1st run
 44  299624 PIROVANO Laura 1997 ITA  0
 41  6535600 MERRYWEATHER Alice 1996 USA  0
 36  426257 LIE Kajsa Vickhoff 1998 NOR  0
 32  537582 COOK Stacey 1984 USA  0
 31  56417 FEST Nadine 1998 AUT  0
 29  56198 SCHEYER Christine 1994 AUT  0
 26  299466 DELAGO Nicol 1996 ITA  0
 25  197641 GAUCHE Laura 1995 FRA  0
 21  297195 HOFER Anna 1988 ITA  0
 20  516248 FLURY Jasmine 1993 SUI  0
 19  56177 VENIER Stephanie 1993 AUT  0
 16  6535237 SHIFFRIN Mikaela 1995 USA  0
 13  298323 GOGGIA Sofia 1992 ITA  0
Did not start 1st run
 58  465098 CAILL Ania Monica 1995 ROU  0
 57  515997 FEIERABEND Denise 1989 SUI  0
 56  25194 PALLAS Carmina 1996 AND  0
 55  506718 IVARSSON Lin 1996 SWE  0
 54  45331 SMALL Greta 1995 AUS  0
 53  206668 WEIDLE Kira 1996 GER  0
 52  107387 CRAWFORD Candace 1994 CAN  0
 51  435334 GASIENICA-DANIEL Maryna 1994 POL  0
 50  107613 GRENIER Valerie 1996 CAN  0
 49  298767 SOSIO Federica 1994 ITA  0
 48  296431 STUFFER Verena 1984 ITA  0
 47  6535455 JOHNSON Breezy 1996 USA  0
 46  516429 GROEBLI Nathalie 1996 SUI  0
 45  705394 KANTOROVA Barbara 1992 SVK  0
 43  206652 PFISTER Meike 1996 GER  0
 40  375018 COLETTI Alexandra 1983 MON  0
 5  297601 BRIGNONE Federica 1990 ITA  0

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About the Author: Gabbi Hall

A California native, Gabbi moved to Vermont to ski on the NCAA circuit for St. Michael’s College, where she served as team captain and studied journalism. Before joining Ski Racing, she worked as a broadcast TV producer and social media manager in higher education. She can be reached via email at gabbi@skiracing.com