Yesterday, according to statements to Blick by US communications director Megan Harrod, we knew Mikaela Shiffrin could return to the Alpine Ski World Cup next Sunday in the Slalom in Are, Sweden, but skip the Giant Slalom on Saturday.
If Shiffrin finally skips the Giant Slalom, with only six races remaining, she would probably no longer be a competitor for Gut-Behrami in the fight for the Overall Crystal Globe.
A consistent, and at times unstoppable, Gut-Behrami is enjoying the best season of her career; she has already collected more points than when she won the Overall World Cup in the 2015-2016 season. Back then she triumphed with 1522 points, now she is leading the standings with 1594 points.
The 32-year-old Swiss skier is coming to Are as the leader in the Overall, Downhill, Super-G, and Giant Slalom standings.
Federica Brignone is in second place in the overall standings 326 points behind Lara Gut-Behrami. Mikaela Shiffrin is in third position 385 points behind the Swiss skier.
In the Downhill, with only one race on the calendar in Saalbach, Gut-Behrami enjoys a 68-point lead over third-placed Stephanie Venier (injured Sofia Goggia will not compete again this season) and 72 over Cornelia Hütter.
In the Super-G standings, Lara Gut-Behrami (540 points) leads Cornelia Hütter (471) by 69 points with 100 points up for grabs in the remaining event. Federica Brignone is third with 466 points, 74 points behind.
In the Giant Slalom, with two races in Are and Saalbach, Gut-Behrami has a lead of 185 points over Federica Brignone.
Lara Gut was born in Sorengo, Ticino, Switzerland on April 27, 1991. She married Swiss football player Valon Behrami in July 2018 and has since competed using the double-barrelled name Gut-Behrami.
Gut-Behrami participated in her first FIS race at age 15 on August 22, 2006, in Las Leñas, Argentina.
One year later, at the Alpine Youth World Championship 2007 at Altenmarkt, Austria, she won the silver medal in Downhill. On March 22, 2007, she became the Swiss National Champion in Super-G, the second youngest champion of all time.
In the 2006-2007 season, Gut-Behrami finished second in the Downhill standings in the Europa Cup.
On December 28, 2007, Gut-Behrami made her World Cup debut in a Giant Slalom at Lienz, Austria.
In the 2007-2008 season, she won the Overall, Downhill, and Super-G standings in the Europa Cup after winning seven races and finishing 12 times on the podium. In January 2008, at Caspoggio, she won four consecutive Europa Cup races, two Downhills and two Super-G races.
At her first World Cup Downhill race on February 2, 2008, Gut-Behrami made it to the podium in third place at St. Moritz, only 0.35 seconds behind the winner, Tina Maze. She followed her World Cup speed debut with a fifth-place finish in the Super-G the next day.
Lara Gut-Behrami was moved up to the World Cup team for the 2008-2009 season. On December 20, 2008, she claimed her maiden World Cup win, a Super-G in St. Moritz. She became the youngest skier to win a World Cup Super-G race, at 17 years, and 237 days.
At the 2009 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Val-d'Isère, France, Gut-Behrami won two silver medals in the Downhill and the Super Combined, more than two months before her 18th birthday.
On September 29, 2009, Gut-Behrami fell during training at Saas-Fee, Switzerland, and dislocated her hip. She sat out the entire 2009-2010 season missing the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.
She returned for the 2010-2011 season and earned four podiums, including a victory in the Super-G at Altenmarkt-Zauchensee in January.
On December 14, 2012, Gut-Behrami won her first World Cup Downhill in Val-d'Isère, France.
At the 2009 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Schladming, Austria, Gut-Behrami won silver in the Super-G.
On October 26, 2013, Gut-Behrami won her first Giant Slalom in the World Cup in Sölden, Austria.
Gut-Behrami won her first Olympic medal in the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. Tina Maze and Dominique Gisin had made headlines by becoming the first Alpine skiers in history to share gold in the Women’s Downhill. Lara Gut-Behrami was just 0.10 seconds away from making it a three-way golden podium, taking bronze.
In the 2013-2014 World Cup season, Gut-Behrami won her first Crystal Globe in the Super-G.
At the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Vail-Beaver Creek, she won the bronze medal in the Downhill.
On December 18, 2015, Gut-Behrami won her first and only World Cup Alpine Combined event in Val-d'Isère, France.
In the 2015-2016 Alpine Ski World Cup season, Lara Gut-Behrami won her first Overall Crystal Globe. She also won her second Super-G Crystal Globe.
Lara Gut-Behrami kicked off the 2016-2017 Alpine Ski World Cup tour with a commanding Giant Slalom victory, the second of her career at the Sölden opener.
At the 2017 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Gut-Behrami finished in third place in the Super-G, taking bronze.
Three days later, Gut-Behrami suffered a major blow when she was injured during warm-up between the two runs after finishing in third place in the Downhill run. She has been diagnosed with a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament and a meniscus lesion.
On February 21, 2020, two years and a month later, Lara Gut-Behrami returned to the top of the podium with a resounding victory in the Downhill of Crans Montana.
Lara Gut-Behrami took gold on the Women's Super-G during the first day of racing at the 2021 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo.Two days later she finished in third place in the Downhill.
On February 18, after winning the gold medal in the Giant Slalom, Gut-Behrami joined a very exclusive club. Until Cortina 2021 only 3 women had won the Super-G and Giant slalom world title in the same year: Alexandra Meissnitzer (1999), Anja Pärson (2005), and Anna Veith (2015).
Gut-Behrami became the most decorated Swiss woman in World Championships history. She has won eight medals in total at the world championships 2 Gold (Cortina 2021, SG and GS) 3 Silver (Val d'Isere 2009, SG and SComb.; Schladming, SG), and 3 bronze (Vail-Beaver Creek 2015, DH; St. Moritz 2017, SG; and Cortina 2021, DH).
In the 2020-2021 winter season, Gut-Behrami won her third Super-G Crystal Globe. She finished in the top two in each of the last five World Cup Super-G events this season. She set a run of four wins in a row before she came runner-up in Val di Fassa on February 28.
Lara Gut-Behrami won the Super-G event in Beijing 2022. It was Gut-Behrami's third Olympic medal - but the first gold medal-, four days after winning bronze in the Giant Slalom and Downhill bronze in Sochi in 2014. Gut-Behrami won the first gold medal for a Swiss woman in the Super-G at the Winter Games. Gut-Behrami’s gold came after two consecutive fourth-place finishes in Super-G at the Olympics in Pyeongchang 2018 and Sochi 2014.
On March 16, 2023, Lara Gut-Behrami won the last Super-G of the season at the Finals in Soldeu and grabbed her fourth Super-G Crystal Globe.
Lara Gut-Behrami won the first Super-G race held in Kvitfjell ahead of the Austrian duo of Cornelia Hütter (+0.12) and Mirjam Puchner (+0.13). It's her eighth victory of the season and celebrated her 45th win in the Alpine Ski World Cup. With 22 victories in the Super-G Gut-Behrami is second for most World Cup Super-G wins among women, only trailing Lindsey Vonn (28).
The day after, Lara Gut-Behrami finished in second position and took another step forward in her fight for the Overall and Super-G Crystal Globes.
Lara Gut-Behrami has won 13 women's World Cup Downhills, the last one on February 16, 2024, for a total of 23 podiums.
The skier from Ticino won the last Giant Slalom in Soldeu. It's her ninth win in the Giant Slalom discipline. She finished in the Top-10 in 27 of the last 29 World Cup Giant Slaloms. She made it to the podium 12 times and won 5 times in the last 29 World Cup Giant Slalom starts.
Olympic Winter Games Starts: 10
Olympic Winter Games Medals: 3
Olympic Winter Games Victories: 1
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships Starts: 30
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships Podiums: 8
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships Victories: 2
FIS World Cup Starts: 367
FIS World Cup Podiums: 89
FIS World Cup Victories: 45
Downhill Victories: 13
Super-G Victories: 22
Giant Slalom Victories: 9
Alpine Combined Victories: 1
In 2016, Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami won her first Overall Globe as the top skier of the season. Gut-Behrami ended up topping American Lindsey Vonn by nearly 300 points.
Gut-Behrami had a sensational season, earning 13 total podiums, including six victories. She was a true overall skier this season, as her victories came in four disciplines: Downhill, Super-G, Giant Slalom, and Alpine Combined.
Lara Gut-Behrami has won the Super-G Crystal Globe four times: 2013-2014, 2015-2016, 2020-2021, and 2022-2023. Only Katja Seizinger and Lindsey Vonn, five times each, have won the Super-G Crystal Globe more times.
Gut-Behrami also won Gold in this discipline at both the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing and the 2021 World Championships in Cortina.
It's not important how many times you fail,
the only thing that matters is what you do to stand up again.
By Lara Gut
Directed by Niccolò Castelli
Soundtrack: Rocky Wood “Blind Hawaii”
Scene taken by «Everybody Sometimes Falls»
Graphic design Andrea Masciadri
FIS Ski World Cup footage granted courtesy of Infront Sports & Media and SRG SSR