She thought she had a margin, but she ended up losing for nothing. Yet leader with half a second ahead at the end of the first round, Federica Brignone was unable to resist Lara Gut-Behrami’s fantastic run. Best time on the second route, designed by the Italian coach, the Swiss imposed her law in Sölden to narrowly beat the Italian (+ 0”02) and the Slovakian Petra Vlhova (+ 0”14). Even further behind in the second round (25th), Mikaela Shiffrin disappointed on the Austrian track (6th at 1”40) while Clara Direz, saved on the gong, grabbed a nice top 20.
Austria continues to smile at him. Already a winner in Sölden in 2013 and 2016 and in Lienz in 2015, Lara Gut-Behrami scored a fourth giant success on Austrian soil, the 3rd on the Rettenbach glacier. However, the task looked complicated at the end of the first round, with more than seven tenths behind Federica Brignone and a second round designed by the Italian’s coach. This was without counting on the Swiss woman’s supercharged performance.
Shiffrin, completely upside down
Aerial, dynamic, very direct as always, Gut-Behrami was able to avoid the pitfall of drifts which usually costs him so much to let the skis slip away at the bottom of the wall. At the finish, the best time of the round, more ‘a second stuck to Hector or Shiffrin and above all an incredible “comeback” on Brignone. Less committed than this morning, perhaps a little taken by the pressure, the Italian broke down at the height of the slope, despite a nice low point. For two hundredths, victory slips into the arms of the Swiss, the 38th of her career and her 6th as a giant. She is also leading the World Cup.
Big favorite announced, Mikaela Shiffrin will have missed out on her two rounds. Already behind this morning, the American did even worse during the second run (25th), the fault of a multitude of small errors, of skiing that was much too calm and empty. Her 6th place (+1”40) is a lesser evil but a bad operation, already, in view of the small globe of which she is the title holder. Clara Direz will happily settle for 20th place (+3”16). Narrowly saved in the first round by the disqualification of Mowinckel, the Frenchwoman let go of the horses in the second (4th time) to score her first points in Sôlden. And kick off your season in a good way.