Gut-Behrami wins women's giant slalom, trims injured Shiffrin's overall World Cup lead
Britt Richardson top Canadian in Italy; Grenier misses races after Sunday crash
Lara Gut-Behrami won a World Cup giant slalom by a large margin on Tuesday in Kronplatz, Italy and trimmed Mikaela Shiffrin's lead in the overall standings to 95 points with the American out injured.
Gut-Behrami posted a two-run time of 2:00.64 to beat Alice Robinson of New Zealand and Olympic champion Sara Hector, who tied for second, by 1.09 seconds on the steep Erta course at the Kronplatz resort.
Gut-Behrami won a super-G in Cortina on Sunday and extended her advantage atop the giant slalom standings following GS wins in Soelden, Austria, and Killington, Vermont, at the start of the season.
Shiffrin crashed in a downhill on Friday in nearby Cortina d'Ampezzo and avoided major injury after hitting the safety nets at high speed but was still banged up and hasn't raced since. Shiffrin led Gut-Behrami by 420 points before she crashed.
Other top giant slalom skiers are also out injured, including Petra Vlhova (torn right knee ligaments), Canada's Valérie Grenier (left shoulder and knee) and Michelle Gisin (right tibia).
WATCH | Grenier injures shoulder in Sunday's super-G in Italy:
Britt Richardson of Canmore, Alta., led the Canadian contingent, placing 18th of 27 finishers in 2:03.51. Cassidy Gray of Invermere, B.C., was 37th (1:03.81) and didn't advance to the second run, while Sarah Bennett (Stoneham, Que.) didn't finish the opening round and Arianne Forget (Prevost, Que.) was disqualified.
With her 42nd career victory, Gut-Behrami moved level with Anja Pärson in sixth place on the all-time women's victory list. Among Swiss women, only Vreni Schneider has more wins with 55.
"To do something like that, it's unbelievable," Gut-Behrami said. "I'm happy about my skiing but right now I don't really have a clear mind to understand what's going on. But I'm happy and tired."
Shiffrin holds the record with 95 wins and broke Lindsey Vonn's previous women's mark of 82 victories with a triumph at Kronplatz last year, then won another GS the following day on the Erta.
Shiffrin MCL 'a bit sprained'
This was the first tech race (slalom or giant slalom) that Shiffrin has missed since Lienz, Austria, in December 2021 when she tested positive for the coronavirus.
"Mikaela is doing relatively well under the circumstances. Nothing serious has happened: no broken bones, no torn ligaments," U.S. Alpine director Patrick Riml told Austrian broadcaster ORF. "She is currently in Innsbruck, doing rehab, and we hope she will be back on the World Cup in the near future.
"The MCL is a bit sprained. She had that bone bruise from the crash in Levi [Finland], that was the same knee, so that all has developed a bit negatively again."
Riml then told Swiss broadcaster SRF: "We hope that in the next, hard to say, 10, 14, maybe 20 days, she will return to the World Cup."
Ragnhild Mowinckel finished fourth and downhill specialist Sofia Goggia finished fifth for her best giant slalom result in more than six years.
With races cancelled this weekend because of a lack of snow in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, the women have a break until giant slalom and slalom races in Soldeu, Andorra, on Feb. 10-11.
"This is something everyone needs," Gut-Behrami said. "It's good sometimes that a race gets cancelled. I hope I can keep on skiing like that in Soldeu."
With files from CBC Sports
