Lara Gut-Behrami returns to the top of the podium after her compulsory Corona break to claim her career-second World Cup win in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria (she won the Super-G back in 2011). She mastered a fast and almost perfect line in a tricky racecourse until a small mistake on the final jump.
Gut-Behrami claimed 12 of her 34 World Cup wins in the Downhill. She is now level with Isolde Kostner in eighth place on the women's list for most World Cup Downhill victories.
The triple-medal winner in Cortina, -she won the world titles in the Super-G and Giant slalom and the bronze medal in the Downhill-, with 34 victories is in ninth place on the all-time women's list for most World Cup wins in all events.
It's her 64th podium in the World Cup and the fourth time she finished on the podium this season (two victories, and two second places).
“The last two months have been anything but good for me. After Sölden, nothing went as planned. I was sick in America, then I crashed, then I had COVID. I have been skiing like five days in November and three days in December, which is nothing. You really didn't need to look at the results so far", said Gut-Behrami.
“Now I'm happy that I can get my rhythm back. I'm lacking a bit of consistency, I'm still a bit tired. But now I've been skiing consistently at a high level for three days, which is very good for me. I'm definitely looking forward to the Super-G tomorrow, it's a beautiful slope", she added.
Second place today went to German Kira Weidle, +0.10 seconds behind the Swiss.
Weidle confirmed her strong performance from the 1st training session, where she had set the best time. It is her fourth podium in the World Cup, all in the Downhill. Weidle was the silver medalist in Cortina and her last podium in the discipline was in Val di Fassa in February 2020.
Ramona Siebenhofer finished in third place +0.44 seconds behind Gut-Behrami. Today's third place is the best result of this season for Siebenhofer. She finished in the top four in five of the last six women's Downhill events contested in the World Cup, including another podium finish: second behind Gut-Behrami in Val di Fassa on 26 February 2021.
“I can already tell that it was a good ride. At the entrance to Schmalzleiten I left a little bit behind because I wasn't able to keep up the speed that well. After Kira Weidle took the lead I was sweating until the end. Now, of course, I'm insanely happy. Watching and waiting at the finish is always worse for me than skiing", said Siebenhofer.
After seven wins in her last seven Downhills, Sofia Goggia has not been able to win the women's downhill for the first time: The 29-year-old Italian fell in the compression before the panorama section after setting the best time on the first sections in the Altenmarkt-Zauchensee racecourse.
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