Gut-Behrami Wins Beijing Super-G
The women's Olympic Super-G race was not for the faint of heart. The co-favorite Lara Gut-Behrami then started the race with starting number seven. The Swiss continuously increased her lead over the course of the race and was particularly convincing in the technical passages. She also lost some time on Puchner in the final section, but saved 0.22 seconds of her lead over the finish line and thus snagged her first Olympic gold medal.
Lara Gut-Behrami had to wait a long, very long time for this triumph at the Olympic Games. In Vancouver 2010, she missed the Winter Games due to a hip injury. Four years later in Sochi there was downhill bronze, but the one tenth she had lost to ex-aequo winners Dominique Gisin and Tina Maze visibly annoyed Gut-Behrami.
Then the disappointments in 2018 in Pyeongchang: 4th place in her flagship discipline Super-G, missing only one hundredth from third-placed Liechtensteiner Tina Weirather. In addition, there was the elimination in South Korea in the downhill and in the giant slalom.
But at these winter games in Beijing, Gut-Behrami's wait came to an end, and on day X everything was finally right. Four days after winning bronze in the giant slalom, the woman from Ticino, who started with number 7, rounded the comparatively easy course to the gold medal, although she was not 100 percent convinced of her run. That's why the long wait began for her at the finish line until all the top riders were down.
A good 14 years after her debut in the World Cup, Gut-Behrami's career record now appears as complete as it is flawless: In addition to her successes at the Olympics, she is double world champion in Super-G and giant slalom in Cortina 2021, plus six other World Cup medals, the Overall World Cup victory from 2016, three small crystal globes in Super-G, 34 World Cup victories (including 17 in Super-G) and a total of 64 podiums.
Mirjam Puchner with start number three conjured up the first reference time in the Chinese snow and, especially in the lower part, impressed with an extremely fast final section, similar to her compatriot Matthias Mayer in the men's race. The next two runners showed what their ride should be worth. First, the Swiss Michelle Gisin was only 0.08 seconds behind Puchner in second place, before Tamara Tippler, after a great middle section, finished only three hundredths behind Gisin in third place.
For Puchner, silver shone like gold. The native of Salzburg, who had to put up with many serious injuries in her career, celebrated her greatest success to date by winning the Olympic silver medal.
"I'm super happy and I don't think I'm going to realize that at the moment. I would never have expected that and I've had a really hard time over the last few days and it's incredible that it works out like this in the run. The last few years were really difficult and sometimes I didn't even know if I was going to continue or not. But last year and this year I got my joy back. I have to say thank you to everyone: my family, my friends, the coaches and the ÖSV. I've had so much support, even in the years when things didn't go so well - you have to appreciate that." said Miriam Puchner
Michelle Gisin showed a strong reaction to the disappointment suffered two days earlier in the slalom when she dropped from 2nd to 6th in the final round. The 28-year-old from Engelberg unexpectedly won the Olympic medal she missed on Wednesday in Super-G. It is her second medal at the Olympic Games after 2018 in Pyeongchang, where she won gold in the combined event.
Gisin lost three tenths to her winning teammate. The woman from Obwalden, who started with the number 4, was initially annoyed about the eight-hundredths gap to Mirjam Puchner after her ride. The Austrian, who was only in ninth place at the last split, advanced to 2nd place on the flat final part.
On the other hand, it was a disappointment for Corinne Suter. The woman from Schwyz, who was on the World Cup podium in the Super-G a year ago in Cortina next to Gut-Behrami and also in Are in 2019, lost 0.98 seconds to Gut-Behrami and finished 13th. Jasmine Flury from Graubünden classified six hundredths ahead of Suter im 12th place.
The Italians suffered a defeat, having won six of the seven Super-Gs of the season in the World Cup. Sofia Goggia had to miss a start because of her knee injury. For Federica Brignone, the leader in the discipline ranking, only 7th place remained as the best Italian.
The American Mikaela Shiffrin, who was eliminated from her first two appearances at these Winter Games and then hesitated with the decision whether she should start in the Super-G, was only ninth. Ester Ledecka, the sensational Olympic champion from 2018 in Super-G, took 5th place. She was only 13 hundredths short of bronze.
