Lara Gut-Berhami double win in Val di Fassa
Laura Pirovano at 11 hundredths from the podium
Lara Gut-Behrami wins also the second of the Val di Fassa downhills and is now leading the overall World Cup ranking. She is still running also for the conquest of the downhill cup that she could be able to win with an additional victory in the last downhill scheduled at the finals in Lenzerheide, pulling out the scepter from the injured Sofia Goggia’s hands.
The downhill cup is also within Corinne Suter’s reach, the new world champion and second today at 32 hundredths from her teammate, after a third place on yesterday’s race, and the German Kira Weidle (GER) third at 0"68 to complete the podium.
Laura Pirovano missed the podium only for eleven hundredths and she was the best of the Italians once again, finishing fifth ex-aequo with the Norwegian Kajsa Vickhoff Lie. The 23-year-old from Spiazzo Rendena in Trentino, eighth in yesterday’s race, is quite satisfied with her performance but also a little bit disappointed to miss her first podium for such a small time gap especially on the home track. She has paid a lot for the delay accumulated in the upper part of the track even if she was able to recover ground in the final stretch, rigth after the Muro del Poeta wall.
The La VolatA slope seems to be tailor-made for the World Cup leader Lara Gut-Behrami, always making the difference in the most technical parts of the track, slightly losing something only in the final part.
This is the 32nd success in her career in the World Cup, the eleventh in downhill, confirming her strenght and extraordinary conditions. After two golden medals at the Cortina Champs in Super-G and Giant Slalom, the Swiss skier continues her triumph toward her second overall crystal globe.
As expected, Lara Gut-Behrami has also won the challenge against her direct competitor Petra Vhlova who ranked twelfth today and is now behind 107 points in the overall ranking. A gap which is supposed to increase tomorrow after the Super-G that will close the three-day event of Val di Fassa.
As far as the Downhill Cup is concerned Sofia Goggia is still the leader with 480 points, followed by Corinne Suter (second with 410 points) and Lara Gut-Behrami (third with 383 points). Breezy Johnson has to give up to her dreams of victory as today she has gone off the track on the Muro del Poeta wall, fortunately without consequences.
The other Italian athletes racing today were Elena Curtoni from Valtellina, with bib no. 1, who ranked tenth at 1”01, while Nicole Delago from Valgardena finished in thirteenth position, with a delay of 1”31, not fully satisfied with her performance (on the La Volata slope she got a victory and a second place in the 2019 European Cup).
A little bit further on there are Federica Brignone, twenty-third, Marta Bassino twenty-fourth (today it was her 25th birthday) and Francesca Marsaglia twenty-fifth. The top 30 is closed by Roberta Melesi, while the debuting Teresa Runggaldier (daughter the ski champion Peter) is thirty-eighth, followed by Federica Sosio in forty-sixth position.
Tomorrow the last race of the Val di Fassa Ski World Cup, a Super-G organized by Ski Team Fassa too, is scheduled at 11.00 a.m., live on Rai 2, Raisport and Eurosport.
Interviews
«Compared to yesterday the track was slower and the visibility worse, so it was necessary to choose the best lines possible, skiing smoothly, which I did best- explains the winner Lara Gut-Behrami - In the last few weeks I have collected important results, it is a very good period for me also thanks to some conditions that cannot be planned together with a little bit of luck. Tomorrow I will try to do my best also in Super-G, where it is important to be able to draw very narrow lines. It could also turn out to be a very special day for me with the conquest of the Super-G Cup ».
«Today the snow was different from yesterday - confirms Corinne Suter - and it was easier for me to get a good time. I am very happy with this second position behind Lara who is always very fast. In this period of the season she is doing very well, her conditions are really impressive. As for the downhill cup, I wish I could win it, of course, but I don't think much about it. I feel really well and I will have another chance to prove it in the last decisive race. And the finals at home, in Switzerland, make me even more confident ».
«I have made many mistakes but I finally succeeded in getting a third place that satisfies me a lot, also because it follows yesterday's fourth position - says the Kira Weidle (Ger) - Considering also my second position in the World Championships, I am experiencing an excellent period and I hope it will continue until the end of the season. Tomorrow, in Super-G, I hope to be able to take some advantage of what I experienced on this track in the last few days».
"I’m very happy with this fifth position, - says Laura Pirovano - as I was yesterday for the eighth one. In training I was not so fast and my feelings were not so good for these two races. I must add, however, that I was off the podium for a few hundredths and this leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, which in no way cancels the satisfaction for these two placements. I got too much delay in the upper part of the track while I have skied better in the lower Part. The visibility was not perfect but checking on video my former performance has helped me to remember all the passages».
Risorse aggiuntive:
