In the absence of Lara Gut-Behrami, Camille Rast (12th) is the fastest Swiss skier in the giant slalom in Sölden. Victory goes to Federica Brignone. The Italian wins ahead of Alice Robinson - Austria's Julia Scheib takes a surprising third place.
Federica Brignone wins the first race of the 2024/25 World Cup season. In the absence of Lara Gut-Behrami, the Italian skier wins the giant slalom in Sölden ahead of Alice Robinson from New Zealand and Julia Scheib from Austria.
Robinson was the only one able to keep up with Brignone, who celebrated her 28th World Cup victory, 17 hundredths of a second behind. Mikaela Shiffrin, the half-time leader, had to settle for 5th place on the heavily degrading slope. With 15,800 spectators, the World Cup overture on Saturday attracted a record number of spectators.
Camille Rast best Swiss
The best Swiss skier was Camille Rast in 12th place, followed by Michelle Gisin (22nd), who made a time-consuming mistake in the second run. Wendy Holdener, who was competing in her first race since injuring her foot in December 2023, and Simone Wild finished 25th and 28th respectively.
Lara Gut-Behrami was not at the start. The injured skier from Ticino was not feeling well and decided to skip the race after the warm-up. She was not 100 percent fit and the risk of injury was too great, explained the overall World Cup winner from last season, who was affected by flu and knee problems during her recent preparations, in tears.
For Gut-Behrami, who was unable to train for three weeks in the run-up to the World Cup opener, the season will begin on November 30 at the second giant slalom of the winter in Killington. In the two weeks before that, the women have two slaloms in Levi and a slalom in Gurgl on the program. The speed season opener will then take place in Beaver Creek at the beginning of December.
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Gut-Behrami explains her decision to forfeit in tears
Shock for Swiss ski fans even before the start of the race: Lara Gut-Behrami has withdrawn from the giant slalom in Sölden! The skier from Ticino doesn't feel ready for the competition and doesn't want to take any risks, she told "SRF" on Saturday morning.
"I'm not 100 percent fit yet. You can't go to the start and risk something like this," she says in an emotional interview after the inspection. "I was hoping that I could make it to the end. I would love to ride, but I can't afford to take any risks."
There was a lack of confidence and it didn't feel 100 percent right. "The knee is actually healthy," says the Swiss rider, who is visibly saddened by the decision. But she can't really ignore it and that's why the risk is far too great. "It's incredibly difficult for me to give up this race, but that's the way it is," Gut-Behrami adds with tears in her eyes.
Gut-Behrami would have started the first World Cup giant slalom of the season shortly after 10.00 am with bib number 4. On Thursday, she had reported a difficult last month. The 2023/24 overall World Cup winner said that she had not been able to train for three weeks due to a persistent flu.
