Switzerland's Gut-Behrami skis to women's super-G gold, Canada's Gagnon falls short of podium
Canadian Roni Remme suffers hand injury in training, still musters 24th-place finish
Switzerland's Lara Gut-Behrami won the women's super-G at the Beijing Olympics on Friday with a time of 1:13.51 to end her run of agonizing near misses in the event.
Coming into the event with medal expectations after two World Cup podium finishes in the discipline, Canada's Marie-Michele Gagnon crossed the line in 14th, missing out on the medals by 0.81 seconds.
After sustaining an injury ahead of PyeongChang 2018, Beijing 2022 is Gagnon's Olympic return, but first as a speed skier after focusing on slalom and giant slalom at Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014.
While falling short of the podium was disappointing for the Lac-Etchemin, Que., native, she has an opportunity to rebound in the downhill.
Roni Remme, of Toronto, skied to 24th despite possibly suffering a broken hand in training just before her run. Competing with the potential injury, she set a personal-best Olympic super-G result, beating her 37th place super-G finish from four years ago. She is getting an X-Ray to determine her injury.
BREAKINGâŚliterally đ<br><br>đ¨đŚ <a href="https://twitter.com/RoniRemme?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RoniRemme</a> may have broken her hand in warm up training right before her Super-G race run. <br><br>Bravely, she still raced and sits 24th. <br><br>She is now off to get x-rays, cradling her swollen hand. <br><br>Updates to come. <a href="https://twitter.com/CBCOlympics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CBCOlympics</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Alpine_Canada?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Alpine_Canada</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UpWithCBC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UpWithCBC</a>
—@KellyVSkiReigning super-G world champion Gut-Behrami, who had finished fourth in the event in the past two Winter Olympics, was 0.22 seconds quicker than silver medallist Mirjam Puchner of Austria.
"I had no strategy at all. I just tried to ski. This is what has always been a little bit of a problem in the past â thinking what to do and what to do better. Now I just try and ski," Gut-Behrami said. "I love super-G, I told myself it's not a different course to lots I have skied before."
The Swiss also picked up a bronze medal with Michelle Gisin 0.30 seconds behind her teammate's winning time.
The 2018 Olympic super-G gold medal winner, Czech Ester Ledecka, finished in fifth place.
Ledecka made history in the event four years ago when she became the first skier to win gold in alpine ski and snowboarding.
The Czech has defended her snowboard parallel giant slalom title in these Games and still has a chance for medals in the Alpine downhill and combined.
WATCH | Alpine skiers have to focus, but not overthink things when racing:
With files from Ben Steiner, CBC Sports
