Lara Gut-Behrami: GEPA pictures
Reporting sourced from Blick.ch, SRF.ch, and Le Nouvelliste.
A Devastating Crash in Her Final Season
Lara Gut-Behrami’s final World Cup winter has taken a heartbreaking turn. The 34-year-old Swiss star crashed during training in Copper Mountain, Colorado, suffering a left-knee injury that early evaluations describe as severe. Swiss-Ski confirmed the fall and initial concerns, and multiple Swiss outlets have reported extensive ligament damage.
According to SRF.ch and Blick.ch, visibility during the session was poor. HEAD race director Rainer Salzgeber told Blick that Gut-Behrami struck her hand on a gate while going over a bump, lost balance, and somersaulted. He described the crash as “severe.”
The fall alone was alarming. What followed may alter the rest of her life.
Doctor Confirms Torn ACL, MCL, and Meniscus Damage
Her longtime doctor, Olivier Siegrist, told Le Nouvelliste—as reported by both Blick.ch and SRF.ch—that the initial on-site findings revealed a torn ACL, a torn MCL, and a meniscus injury.
“She called me and said she wanted to see me because I know her knee,” Siegrist said. He added that he will meet her next week with his successor, Julien Billières, to determine the full extent of the damage once she returns to Switzerland.
Swiss-Ski has not yet issued an official medical confirmation, but the information from her physician paints a grim picture.
Travel Delays Mean Answers Must Wait
Gut-Behrami cannot travel immediately. SRF.ch reports that all flights into Europe are fully booked, and Siegrist told Le Nouvelliste she will not land in Milan until Sunday. Only then can a full diagnostic evaluation be completed.
The delay prolongs the uncertainty. And the ski world waits.
A Career That Balanced Power and Caution
Gut-Behrami has managed exceptional longevity in a dangerous sport by pairing world-class power with measured risk. Since 2017, she has repeatedly said she will not push through major injuries again.
She has also avoided them. Remarkably, she crashed only once in her last 165 World Cup races, a statistic first reported by Blick.ch. She built that consistency on instinct, discipline, and a finely tuned understanding of danger. When her feeling wasn’t right, she backed off—and still won.
After her 2017 knee injury at the St. Moritz World Championships, she often spoke about listening to her body. During the 2023–24 season, when asked by Blick whether she would retire if she suffered another serious injury, she answered: “Yes. But I don’t want to get injured.”
A Life Already Moving Toward the Future
Gut-Behrami announced last spring that this season would be her last. She planned to finish the winter, move to London to join her husband, Valon Behrami, and expand her role as an investor and product developer for Swiss recovery-drink company Ka-Ex. She told RSI in October that she hoped “the children will come soon.”
Her skiing, meanwhile, remained exceptional. She opened the season with a third-place finish in Sölden and continued to show the calm, efficient, high-speed mastery that defined her late career.
Now that final chapter is at risk of ending far earlier than she had hoped.
What Comes Next
The full diagnosis will determine whether Gut-Behrami has any chance of returning this season—or racing again at all. Given her pre-announced retirement plans, a complete ACL and MCL tear would almost certainly close the door on a comeback.
Still, until she undergoes comprehensive imaging in Switzerland, small possibilities remain: partial tears, bone bruising, or treatment paths that do not require immediate reconstruction.
For a skier who built a Hall of Fame résumé on resilience, precision, and courage, hope is not unreasonable. But realism is unavoidable.
For now, Switzerland—and the entire ski world—waits for answers. And many are hoping for the same outcome:
a surprise diagnosis that gives one of the sport’s great champions one more chance to finish her story on her own terms.
About the Author: SR Staff Report
