Lara Gut-Behrami Sölden 2025: GEPA pictures
Lara Gut-Behrami Begins Her Farewell on Saturday
SÖLDEN, Austria — Lara Gut-Behrami (HEAD) begins her final World Cup season on Saturday with the giant slalom opener in Sölden. The 34-year-old Swiss star is ready for one last campaign — and she’s not holding back in her views about how social media has changed athletes’ behavior.
A Final Season, Fully Committed
Gut-Behrami made it clear long ago that this will be her last winter as a professional ski racer. “I’m not leaving the door even slightly open,” she said Friday during the FIS Race Talk in Sölden. “I’m opening the door for new things in my life.”
Her fans can expect a full farewell tour that begins where it all started — on the Rettenbach Glacier, where she first raced a World Cup in December 2007.
Despite announcing her retirement, Gut-Behrami said little has changed in her approach. “I’ll prepare the same way I always have,” she said earlier this month in Dübendorf. “I still want to get better every day, I still get frustrated when things don’t go right, and I still want to win.”
She refuses to let nostalgia take over. “I’m not living in the past. I’m not nostalgic. I don’t want to talk every weekend about how it’s almost over. I just want to enjoy what I’m doing right now.”
A Career Among the Greats
Gut-Behrami has done more than most skiers could dream of. She’s earned 48 World Cup wins, 100 podiums, two overall titles, and seven small crystal globes. Her résumé includes an Olympic gold medal, two Olympic bronzes, two world titles, and seven additional world championship medals.
She’s also won in Sölden three times — in 2013, 2016, and 2023 — though she skipped last year’s opener. “There’s no reason to be nervous,” she said. “It’s just a race. There are 100 points to win, but nothing special to try.”
For Gut-Behrami, the focus remains the same: ski fast, stay healthy, and give her best through all 30 races of the season. “It’s not one race and then it’s over,” she said. “There’s a long season ahead. Maybe I feel a little more joy now, but my goal hasn’t changed — to cross the finish line as fast as possible.”
Critical of Social Media’s Impact
Gut-Behrami has long distanced herself from social media, and she believes it has changed the sport — and its athletes. “In the beginning of my career, athletes were more honest,” she said. “Now, with social media, it’s become incredibly important that everyone likes you, that you’re always friendly and fair.”
She misses the raw emotion once shown by past champions like Anja Pärson, Janica Kostelić, and Tina Maze. “It used to be okay to be angry or disappointed,” Gut-Behrami said. “You worked hard to win races, not to finish tenth.”
Her most pointed comment came when she criticized younger racers for downplaying poor results: “It bothers me when young racers finish outside the second run and say it’s okay. It’s not. This is the World Cup. If I make a mistake and finish 25th, fine — but I don’t start to finish 25th or 15th.”
Her words drew applause — a fitting moment for an athlete who has always spoken her mind and competed with fierce authenticity. There will be many more ovations before she finally says goodbye in March 2026.
Information from skinews.ch was used in this report.
About the Author: Peter Gerber Plech
