Press release -
First Victory this Season for Lara Gut-Behrami
Ups and downs for Lara Gut-Behrami at her home event in St. Moritz. In the Super-G on Saturday, the Swiss athlete celebrated her 33rd World Cup victory, the first of the season. On Sunday, the 30-year-old fell during the second Super-G race and managed to escape with bruises. Elena Curtoni finished second in this race, just missing her second World Cup victory by eleven-hundredths of a second. Alexis Pinturault stood on the podium for the first time this season, finishing in second place in the Giant Slalom in Val d'Isere on Saturday.
"Lara Gut-Behrami's first run on Saturday was perfect. On Sunday, she was on her way to another top result. It was fortunate that she survived this fall without any major injuries," emphasised HEAD Racing Director Rainer Salzgeber. "Elena Curtoni just missed out on the victory on Sunday. The results notched up by the women's team were awesome. These achievements show that we are right on target. The men also managed some excellent results. In the Giant Slalom, we had four athletes in the top ten. In the Slalom, our newcomer Tanguy Nef had a great first run, finishing in fourth place. On the second run, Timon Haugan scored the second-fastest time while Atle Lie McGrath had the fourth-fastest time."
17th Super-G victory for Lara Gut-Behrami
For Lara Gut-Behrami, it was the 17th Super-G win of her career. Almost exactly 13 years ago, on December 20, 2008, the Super-G World Champion won her very first World Cup victory in this discipline in St. Moritz. "It wasn't an easy race. I watched the first two or three skiers and thought the run looked relatively slow. It turned out I was wrong," explained Lara Gut-Behrami at the finish. "There were a lot of bumps at the top end of the run where it was relatively slow, but in the middle section the gates appeared much quicker than I expected. That was a bit of a surprise. St. Moritz is a race where you really only need one strategy. It's about attacking and making the best of the terrain, which I did pretty well today."
Five HEAD World Cup Rebels in the top 7
In addition to Lara in first place, the Norwegian athlete Ragnhild Mowinckel finished in fourth place, Ariane Rädler from Austrian was fifth, Elena Curtoni from Italy sixth and Wendy Holdener from Switzerland was seventh, adding up to a great team result for the HEAD Worldcup Rebels on Saturday. Marie-Michele Gagnon from Canada finished in 13th place. For Ariane Rädler, it was the best World Cup result of her career so far. Previously, it was seventh place in the Super-G in St. Anton in 2021.
Elena Curtoni just misses victory
Eleven-hundredths of a second was all that stood between Elena Curtoni and a second World Cup victory in Sunday's Super-G. The Italian athlete finished in second place to equal her best Super-G performance from 2017 in Crans Montana. Cornelia Hütter from Austria finished twelfth with bib number 35.
"I felt the performance in my skis, in my legs and in my heart. And I'm pleased I managed to apply that during the run from top to bottom," said Elena Curtoni after finishing second. "It was a bit of a chaotic day with the high wind and the shorter course, and I'm proud that I was able to cope well with this situation as well."
First podium this season for Alexis Pinturault
In the men's competition, Alexis Pinturault was delighted with his first World Cup podium finish of the season. The overall World Cup winner from France finished second in the Giant Slalom in Val d'Isere on Saturday. Alexander Schmid equalled his best result in the Giant Slalom so far in sixth place. The German athlete also finished sixth in this discipline in 2017 - again in Val d'Isere. Mathieu Faivre from France finished eighth, Justin Murisier from Switzerland was ninth.
In the Slalom event on Sunday, Tanguy Nef, new to the HEAD Worldcup Rebels team this season, showed his potential with the fourth-fastest time on the first run. The Swiss athlete dropped out on the second run. Starting with bib number 34, Atle Lie McGrath chased his way to eighth place. The Norwegian athlete was in 21st place following the first run and skied a dazzling second run with the fourth-fastest time. His compatriot Timon Haugan moved up from 29th to 13th overall with the second-fastest time on the second run.
📷 GEPA pictures
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