Lara Gut-Behrami claims Switzerland's first super-G gold

Lara Gut-Behrami won Switzerland’s first gold medal in super-G and the first gold medal in her Olympics career, with teammate Michelle Gisin joining her on the podium with the bronze.

Gut-Behrami’s winning time of 1:13.51 followed wins in both the super-G and giant slalom in the 2021 World Championships in Italy. She became the first woman to earn the gold medal as the reigning world champion. She earned her second medal in the Winter Games after finishing in bronze position in the giant slalom. The three-time Olympian also won bronze in the downhill event in the 2014 Winter Olympics.

The 30-year-old didn’t get to ski much at all leading up to the Olympics, missing the World Cup last month after testing positive for COVID-19.

But Gut-Behrami — the seventh skier down — had a clean run, trimming the lines, taking big angles and choosing tracks to the inside of other skiers. 

Austria’s Mirjam Puchner grabbed the silver in her Olympic debut with a time of 1:13.73, and Gisin — who won the combined event at the 2018 Winter Olympics — finished in bronze position at 1:13.81.

Defending gold medalist Ester Ledecka, who was the first woman to win gold in two separate disciplines at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, was able to defend her gold in the giant slalom but came up short in the super-G. She finished in fifth place, 0.43 seconds off Gut-Behrami’s pace. 

Mikaela Shiffrin, who skied out in both of her first two events, completed the course and finished in the top 10 with a time of 1:14.30, nearly eight-tenths off the lead.