Olympic champ Gut-Behrami shrugs off high winds to beat Italian trio in women's super-G
Defeats Saturday winner Brignone by 0.15 seconds; Gagnon top Canadian in 13th
Lara Gut-Behrami beat three Italian skiers Sunday to win a women's World Cup super-G that ended early due to high winds.
The Swiss Olympic champion's body language after finishing suggested she was far from happy with her performance, but her leading time still stood after all other favourites had completed their runs.
"It didn't really go as I planned," Gut-Behrami said from St. Anton, Austria. "In the flat part, I had a lot of mistakes and I never expected to be that fast."
Gut-Behrami stopped the clock in one minute 17.26 seconds, 0.15 faster than Federica Brignone, who won a shortened super-G Saturday when Gut-Behrami finished third, and 0.19 faster than Marta Bassino (1:17.45).
"I wasn't able to push as I would have liked or at least as much as I had done in the previous race," said Brignone.
WATCH | Full coverage of women's super-G from St. Anton:
"In the final part the snow was softer and I wasn't able to speed well, to attack. A great weekend anyway, I'm very satisfied," the Italian added.
Elena Curtoni was 0.52 back in fourth to add to the strong showing of the Italian team, which had to do without its biggest star, Sofia Goggia.
WATCH | Gut-Behrami prevails in super-G, Kilde extends downshill season lead:
Shiffrin to race next weekend in Italy
Goggia opted not to start as a precautionary measure following her crash in Saturday's race. The Italian team said Goggia underwent MRI and CT scans at a clinic in Milan, but they revealed no damage to her right knee.
Top Canadian was Marie-Michele Gagnon in 13th (1:18.75). A day earlier, the Lac-Etchemin, Que., native was 26th (1:02.62). Her teammate, Valerie Grenier of St. Isidore, Ont., placed 24th of 28 finishers in 1:19.86 after going 1:02.25 for 23rd on Saturday. Stefanie Fleckenstein did not start Sunday's run, 24 hours after not finishing.
Mikaela Shiffrin did not race this weekend, resting after an intense block of technical races. The American was expected back next weekend at speed races in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, aiming for a record-setting 83rd women's World Cup win to break her 82-win tie with Lindsey Vonn.
A downhill cancelled Saturday after days of excessive snowfall in St. Anton and replaced with the shortened super-G was rescheduled for Cortina on Friday, replacing an initially planned super-G in the Italian Dolomites on that day.
The schedule for Cortina now includes two downhills on Friday and Saturday, followed by a super-G the next day.
Petra Vlhova, the runner-up to Shiffrin in the overall standings, also didn't compete this weekend. The former overall champion from Slovakia trails Shiffrin by 399 points.
Sunday's race was interrupted after 46 starters because of gusts in the upper part of the Karl Schranz course. Six lower-ranked skiers were still waiting for their run, but organizers decided to call off the remainder of the race as conditions failed to improve.
Results were still valid since the minimum of at least 30 skiers had started their run.
WATCH l Shiffrin ties historic women's World Cup wins record:
With files from CBC Sports
