Gut-Behrami wins Soldeu giant slalom to leapfrog Shiffrin in standings / Photo: Ed JONES - AFP
Gut-Behrami wins Soldeu giant slalom to leapfrog Shiffrin in standings
In-form Swiss skier Lara Gut-Behrami ousted injured Mikaela Shiffrin at the top of the overall title standings with victory in the World Cup giant slalom in Soldeu on Saturday.
Gut-Behrami finished only ninth behind Italian Marta Bassino in the first leg, but produced a fast second to claim victory in a combined time of 1min 59.27sec.
The result saw the Swiss racer surge to 1,214 points in the overall standings, five ahead of Shiffrin, who suffered a knee injury in a downhill at Cortina last month and has yet to fix a return date.
New Zealander Alice Robinson finished second at the Andorran ski resort, just one-hundredth of a second behind Gut-Behrami.
American AJ Hurt rounded out the podium at 0.15sec.
Depending on when Shiffrin might make her comeback, Gut-Behrami is well poised for a second overall title, having previously triumphed in 2016. She has also finished second on three occasions, and third once.
The victory was the 32-year-old Swiss skier's 43rd on the circuit, on which the Olympic super-G gold medallist has been an ever-present for 16 seasons.
U.Varma--MT
