Alpine skiing
Thrilling finale: Gut-Behrami misses the overall downhill victory
After her downhill victory, Cornelia Hütter celebrates with the crystal ball trophy. photo
© Alessandro Trovati/AP/dpa
The women’s alpine ski season remains exciting until the end. In the end, surprisingly, an Austrian woman cheers. Lara Gut-Behrami missed the fourth crystal ball she was hoping for.
The Slovenian Ilka Stuhec came second ahead of the Italian Nicol Delago. The only German starter, Kira Weidle, ended an unsatisfactory season with eighth place.
“I didn’t expect it to work out at all,” Hütter told ZDF after her surprise coup. At the finish she showed great emotions and also shed a few tears. “I was completely overwhelmed,” said the 31-year-old with a smile.
Gut-Behrami had previously won the overall World Cup and the discipline classifications in giant slalom and super-G. She almost became the first athlete since the American Mikaela Shiffrin in 2019 to win one large and three small crystal balls in one winter. Hütter pulled ahead with a fantastic ride and her sixth World Cup victory overall and ultimately won the downhill classification with a lead of 28 points.