Featured Image: Lara Gut-Behrami celebrates after the season-opening giant slalom in Sölden during the 2025 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup. (GEPA pictures)
Olympic champion. Two-time Overall World Cup winner. Fierce competitor. Unapologetically herself. Lara Gut-Behrami leaves alpine skiing as one of the sport’s defining athletes—and on her own terms.
There are retirements that mark the end of a career.
Then there are retirements that mark the end of an era.
Lara Gut-Behrami’s decision to step away from alpine ski racing is one of those moments.
After nearly two decades competing at the highest level, the Swiss star announced her retirement in a heartfelt interview, explaining that following the knee injury that ended her hopes of one final Olympic season, she knew it was time to move on. It wasn’t a decision driven by results or expectations. It was one made by listening to herself.
In her farewell with RSI Sport, Gut-Behrami reflected on the feeling that had defined her relationship with skiing from the very beginning.
“The feeling of absolute freedom on the snow has never left me. It was there when I was a child, it was there as an athlete, and it will stay with me in the future.”
Those words say everything about the skier the world came to know.
For Lara, skiing was never simply about medals, Crystal Globes or records. It was about the freedom she found on the mountain. That passion carried her through one of the most remarkable careers in alpine skiing history.
Gut-Behrami leaves the sport as an Olympic super-G champion, a two-time Overall World Cup champion, a multiple-time World Championship medalist and one of the most accomplished ski racers of her generation. Yet even a résumé filled with victories cannot fully explain her impact on the sport.
Her legacy is just as much about who she was as it is about what she won.
A Champion Who Never Tried to Be Anyone Else
Modern sport asks athletes to be many things.
They are expected to race, perform for sponsors, cultivate an online following and share their lives with the world in real time. Success today is often measured by engagement as much as achievement.
Lara Gut-Behrami never seemed interested in that version of fame.
She remained fiercely private throughout her career, choosing substance over spectacle. She never chased attention for attention’s sake, and her absence from social media became almost as distinctive as her skiing. When she spoke publicly, people listened because her words carried weight. She wasn’t posting to stay relevant—she spoke because she had something meaningful to say.
She was equally honest when discussing the challenges of elite sport. Whether speaking about the demands of the World Cup, injuries or the direction of ski racing, she never filtered her opinions to satisfy everyone.
In an era of carefully crafted public personas, Lara remained refreshingly authentic. That authenticity earned her respect not only as a champion, but as a person.
The Signs Were There Long Before the Crystal Globes
Long before the Olympic podium, World Cup victories and Crystal Globes, there was already something unmistakable about Lara Gut.
I had the opportunity to race alongside her at the 2007 FIS Junior World Ski Championships in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria, where she was just 15 years old. Like every athlete there, I was focused on my own racing, but every now and then another competitor catches your attention, not because of the results sheet, but because of the way they carry themselves.
Lara was one of those athletes.
She wasn’t loud, and she certainly wasn’t trying to draw attention to herself. There was simply a quiet confidence about her that stood out. She approached the mountain with an intensity that seemed beyond her years, and when she pushed out of the start, she skied with a level of trust and commitment that made an impression on everyone watching.
She went on to win the downhill silver medal behind Tina Weirather, finishing ahead of future stars including Nicole Schmidhofer, Ilka Štuhec and Viktoria Rebensburg. Looking back now, it’s easy to focus on the result because we know what came afterward, but at the time what struck me most wasn’t the medal. It was the feeling that I had watched someone whose talent was matched by an unwavering belief in herself. So much of what would define Lara’s career—her composure, her precision and her quiet determination—was already there at just 15 years old.
A Career Defined by Resilience
Talent may earn a place on the World Cup, but resilience is what allows an athlete to stay there.
For nearly two decades, Lara Gut-Behrami did exactly that. She navigated injuries that would have ended many careers, adapted through changes in equipment and generations of competitors, and somehow continued to evolve without ever losing the identity that made her such a unique racer.
Watching Lara ski always felt effortless, but anyone who has spent time in this sport knows there is nothing effortless about sustained success. Behind every victory were countless hours of training, rehabilitation, travel and sacrifice. She had a remarkable ability to make difficult terrain look manageable, carrying speed with confidence and precision, but those beautiful turns were built on years of relentless work that most people never saw.
Perhaps that’s what made her career so remarkable. It wasn’t just the victories. It was her ability to remain one of the very best for so long in a sport that has a way of humbling even its greatest champions.
Choosing the Right Time to Walk Away
Very few athletes get to leave their sport entirely on their own terms.
Some compete long after their bodies have told them to stop, while others never have the chance to make that decision for themselves. Lara Gut-Behrami’s retirement feels different because it wasn’t driven by outside expectations or the pressure to squeeze in one more season. It was guided by honesty.
In her farewell with RSI Sport, she acknowledged how fortunate she felt to still have that choice.
“I’m fortunate and happy to be able to choose. Even after nearly twenty years of high-level sport, despite the crashes and injuries, I don’t have recurring pain—and I don’t want to.”
Those words say a great deal about the perspective she has gained throughout her career. Rather than risking the joy skiing has always brought her, she chose to protect it.
She said later:
“Skiing is something magical and natural for me. Forcing my body and my mind to endure and manage pain would be like tarnishing the image I carry inside me of everything I’ve done with so much passion.”
For someone who has spent a lifetime chasing hundredths of a second, it’s a remarkably grounded way to look at retirement. She didn’t walk away because she stopped loving the sport. She walked away because she loved it enough to preserve what it has always meant to her.
The Legacy Lara Gut-Behrami Leaves Behind
Every generation has athletes who leave their sport better than they found it, and Lara Gut-Behrami is undoubtedly one of them.
Her achievements will always be remembered, but I think her influence extends well beyond the results sheet. She inspired young girls to believe they belonged on the World Cup, challenged her competitors to raise their own level, and showed that authenticity can be one of an athlete’s greatest strengths.
She never seemed interested in creating a version of herself for public approval. Instead, she remained true to who she was, whether that meant speaking honestly about the sport or choosing to stay away from social media altogether. In today’s world, where athletes often feel pressure to constantly share their lives, Lara’s quiet confidence and authenticity became part of what made her so respected.
That may ultimately be one of her greatest legacies.
Thank You, Lara
As I reflect on Lara’s retirement, I don’t find myself thinking first about the medals or the Crystal Globes, remarkable as they all are. Instead, I think back to that week at Junior Worlds and the impression a 15-year-old Swiss skier made on everyone around her.
At the time, none of us could have known exactly what she would accomplish. We couldn’t have predicted Olympic gold, Overall Crystal Globes or nearly two decades spent among the very best in the world. But I remember thinking there was something different about her, and looking back now, that feeling was right.
Near the end of her farewell with RSI Sport, Lara reflected not on the victories themselves, but on the journey that brought her there.
“I’ve worked relentlessly for years with the goal of excelling and winning in sport. Now I feel only a profound sense of happiness, and I’m moved by how beautiful it all was.”
I can’t imagine a better way for an athlete to close one chapter and begin another. To leave the sport with gratitude instead of regret is something very few competitors experience, and it feels like a fitting ending for someone who always approached skiing with such honesty.
Thank you, Lara, for the memories, the remarkable skiing and the example you set for so many throughout your career. Alpine skiing won’t be the same without you, but your influence on the sport—and on the athletes who grew up watching you—will be felt for many years to come.
Some impressive moments from Lara Gut-Behrami:
About the Author: Katie Twible
