Swiss ski star Gut-Behrami secures first two crystal globes

SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria — Lara Gut-Behrami has completed half of her mission to win four crystal globes this Alpine skiing World Cup season.

And the Swiss star hasn't even had to show her best skiing yet.

Gut-Behrami secured the overall and giant slalom titles on Sunday, after finishing 10th in the GS at the World Cup finals.

Her only remaining challenger in both classifications, Federica Brignone, won the race, but that was not enough for the Italian, who could only overtake Gut-Behrami if the Swiss star had finished outside the top 15 and failed to score points.

"It's unbelievable, the GS has always been so important to me," said Gut-Behrami. "I always knew, if I'm skiing fast in GS, then I'm also skiing fast in super-G and downhill."

Gut-Behrami became the first female skier from Switzerland since Sonja Nef in 2002 to win the giant slalom title, though she won the world title in the discipline in 2021.

"To win a globe 22 years after Sonja Nef, to keep the tradition we have, such an amazing tradition of skiing in Switzerland, I'm proud about that," said Gut-Behrami. "I was really nervous today, because I really wanted to win. I skied so badly, I was just nervous, so I'm not surprised about that."

Gut-Behrami is a strong favorite to add the season titles in super-G and downhill this week, which would make her the fourth female skier to win four classifications in one season, after Lindsey Vonn, Tina Maze and, most recently, Mikaela Shiffrin.

On Sunday, Gut-Behrami avoided risks in both runs, posting only the eighth and 17th fastest times.

"What would you do? I learned that sometimes you just have to stay safe, try to cross the finish line," she said. "Of course, not the best way to end the GS season talking about skiing, but the best way to end the season is with a globe."

It's the second overall championship for Gut-Behrami after winning it in 2016, the last year before Shiffrin's reign started.

A five-time overall champion, Shiffrin won the last two titles and led the standings again this season, but the American dropped out of the race when she sustained a knee injury in a crash during a downhill in Italy in January.

Shiffrin ended her season Saturday after winning her second straight race after her six-week layoff.

Gut-Behrami passed Shiffrin after winning a GS in Andorra in February, before crowning a consistent season in which she has had eight wins and finished outside the top six just four times.

Gut-Behrami, who turns 33 next month, is the oldest overall champion and only the second skier to win the sport's biggest prize in her 30s, after fellow Swiss standout Vreni Schneider, who was 30 when she won the last of her three overall titles in 1994-95.

Brignone dominated the season-ending event, winning it by a massive 1.36 seconds from Alice Robinson of New Zealand. Thea Louise Stjernesund of Norway was 1.67 behind her in third.

" (Winning the race) was my focus for today," said Brignone after her 12th career GS win and 27th overall. "I gave everything. In the second run I made a big mistake so I thought it was gone, but it was wonderful."

The next women's race at the finals is the super-G on Friday.

First Norwegian win

In the men's slalom, Timon Haugan held on to his first-run lead to claim victory at the World Cup finals on Sunday, giving the Norwegian ski team its first victory of the season.

Haugan beat Manuel Feller, the winner of the discipline's overall title, by 0.40 seconds, after the Austrian improved from fourth after the first run. Linus Strasser of Germany, who was second, dropped to third, 0.44 behind.

Haugan, who had earned three career podiums in slalom before, most recently in Schladming in January, was yet to win a World Cup event.

Right after the race, in a scene of jubilant celebration, his Norwegian teammates stormed into the finish area and hoisted him onto their shoulders.

Feller received the first globe of his career a week after locking up the discipline title.

"It's just amazing, especially at home in front of a crowd like that, you can't write a book better (than) that," Feller said.

He became the joint-oldest winner of the slalom season title, following on from fellow Austrian Reinfried Herbst in 2010 and Croatian standout Ivica Kostelic in 2011, who were also 31 when they won the globe.

Agencies via Xinhua