Gut-Behrami wins women’s giant slalom, trims injured Shiffrin’s overall World Cup lead

Lara Gut-Behrami won a World Cup giant slalom by a large margin on Tuesday in Kronplatz, Italy and trimmed Mikaela Shiffrin’s lead in the overall standings to 95 points with the American out injured.

Gut-Behrami beat Alice Robinson of New Zealand and Olympic champion Sara Hector, who tied for second, by 1.09 seconds on the steep Erta course at the Kronplatz resort.

Shiffrin crashed in a downhill on Friday in nearby Cortina d’Ampezzo and avoided major injury after hitting the safety nets at high speed but was still banged up and hasn’t raced since. Shiffrin led Gut-Behrami by 420 points before she crashed.

Gut-Behrami won a super-G in Cortina on Sunday and extended her advantage atop the giant slalom standings following GS wins in Soelden, Austria, and Killington, Vermont, at the start of the season.

Other top giant slalom skiers are also out injured, including Petra Vlhova (torn right knee ligaments), Canada’s Valérie Grenier (left shoulder and knee) and Michelle Gisin (right tibia).

Britt Richardson of Canmore, Alta., led the Canadian contingent, placing 18th of 27 finishers in 2:03.51. Cassidy Gray of Invermere, B.C., was 37th (1:03.81) and didn’t advance to the second run, while Sarah Bennett (Stoneham, Que.) didn’t finish the opening round and Arianne Forget (Prevost, Que.) was disqualified.

With her 42nd career victory, Gut-Behrami moved level with Anja Pärson in sixth place on the all-time women’s victory list. Among Swiss women, only Vreni Schneider has more wins with 55.

Shiffrin holds the record with 95 wins and broke Lindsey Vonn’s previous women’s mark of 82 victories with a triumph at Kronplatz last year, then won another GS the following day on the Erta.

This was the first tech race (slalom or giant slalom) that Shiffrin has missed since Lienz, Austria, in December 2021 when she tested positive for the coronavirus.

WATCH | Grenier injures shoulder in Sunday’s super-G in Italy: