Federica Brignone strikes a big blow in the second super-G in La Thuile. The Italian takes the lead in the discipline ranking from Lara Gut-Behrami and secures the overall World Cup.
Brignone celebrated her tenth win of the season by a wafer-thin margin ahead of Sofia Goggia and Romane Miradoli. Lara Gut-Behrami finished in 4th place at the same time as Corinne Suter, which means she is almost level with Brignone going into the final for the small crystal globe in the super-G.
Brignone, who started the race seven start numbers ahead of Gut-Behrami, was one and five hundredths of a second faster than Goggia and Miradoli respectively. Gut-Behrami, who had also finished fourth the day before one place behind Brignone, missed out on the podium by three tenths, as did Suter. Brignone thus takes a mini-reserve of five points into the final in Sun Valley. The last super-G is scheduled for Sunday, March 23, one day after the downhill.
Brignone wins the overall World Cup
Brignone's second triumph in the overall World Cup after 2020 is effectively a foregone conclusion before the final. The 34-year-old from Milan now leads the overall standings by 382 points ahead of Gut-Behrami, who will only compete in three more races.
The Swiss, who had to cede the lead in the women's Nations Cup to Italy in La Thuile, managed a small improvement on Thursday with two 4th places and Joana Hählen in 10th place. While Michelle Gisin was unable to confirm her 9th place from the previous day and missed out on the top 20, Suter achieved her best result since her two 3rd places in Cortina d'Ampezzo (super-G) and Garmisch-Partenkirchen (downhill) in January.
Emma Aicher, the German winner on Thursday, was eliminated after setting the best intermediate times.
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Brignone on the verge of overall victory
Federica Brignone could decide the battle for the big crystal globe on Friday. As the leader in the overall standings, she has 332 points more than second-placed Lara Gut-Behrami. Both will compete in four of the five remaining races.
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Lara Gut-Behrami wants the small ball
Lara Gut-Behrami is in pole position for the small globe in the super-G. The Swiss racer leads with 45 points ahead of Federica Brignone. There are still two super-Gs to go. Although there are still 200 points up for grabs, the two will probably decide the bullet battle between them. Sofia Goggia in third place is already 129 points behind.