Gut Grabs First Win Since Return From Injury; Final World Cup Super-G Before Olympics

Lara Gut of Switzerland won the final ladies' super-G race prior to the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo on Sunday, marking her first victory since returning from a season-ending knee injury last winter. From a lowered start due to overnight snowfall on the upper part of the mountain, Gut charged for the win despite a technical course set and flat light on the slope. 

"It's good to be back — to be back winning," Gut said. "In super-G I've always been fast. ... If I ski the way I can I'm always top 10."

She was joined on the podium by Johanna "Hanna" Schnarf of Italy whose only previous World Cup podium finish was in downhill eight years ago. Although Schnarf has collected a number of top-10 finishes in recent years across both downhill and super-G, she produced a run worthy of a return to the podium at the race not far from her home.  "It means a lot to me, because it's my second podium in 10 years and because I'm so near my home," said Schnarf,

Nicole "Nici" Schmidhofer of Austria, the reigning world champion in super-G, rounded out the podium in third for her second top-three appearance in the Olympic season. 

The jury together with the organizing committee made the decision to terminate the race after 44 skiers had started due to poor visibility in a technical section with a compression that was the site of two crashes. Nadine Fest of Austria and Laura Pirovano of Italy were both evacuated from the slope via rescue sled after crashing into the safety netting. They are being evaluated for possible lower body injuries.