Gut-Behrami dominates another super-G for 4th straight win

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany (AP) — Lara Gut-Behrami outclassed the field once again in a World Cup super-G on Monday, winning the last race before the world championships. In a repeat of Saturday’s race on the same course, the Swiss skier had a clean run on the challenging Kandahar course and extended her lead at each split time before clinching her fourth straight victory in the discipline. Her winning streak comes on the back of an extended drought when she failed to win a World Cup super-G for three years. “Sometimes it takes so long to get the pieces together and it’s not fun. It’s hard work and you’re always fighting against everything,” Gut-Behrami said. “And then somehow, after all this work, it goes again in the right direction. It feels so easy and you’re actually enjoying it.” Her 16th career win in super-G put Gut-Behrami in a tie for third with Katja Seizinger of Germany on the all-time winners list. Only American great Lindsey Vonn (28) and Austrian skier Renate Götschl (17) have won more super-Gs. Overall World Cup leader Petra Vlhova was the only racer to finish within seven-tenths of a second of Gut-Behrami’s time, coming in 0.28 behind in second for her first career podium in super-G. Tamara Tippler of Austria was 0.74 behind in third, followed by Kajsa Vickhoff Lie in fourth. The Norwegian had earned her first podium when she came runner-up in Saturday’s race. With the super-G at the worlds eight days away, Gut-Behrami said she was looking forward to traveling home and getting some rest. At her home races in Crans Montana a week ago, she complained about back and hip ailments. “The last two weeks were intense and exhausting. I’m happy that I’m healthy and that I fought against the fatigue,” Gut-Behrami said. Corinne Suter of Switzerland was fifth, keeping alive her slim chance of retaining the super-G season title she won last year. Suter trails leader Gut-Behrami by 195 points with only two events remaining after the worlds. A race win is worth 100 points. Defending overall champion Federica Brignone finished seventh, leading a trio of Italians in the top 10, a day after the team lost Sofia Goggia for its home world championships. Goggia, who is the Olympic downhill champion, was ruled out for the season after fracturing a bone in her right knee after the cancellation of Sunday’s race, when she fell while descending from the hill. Super-G world champion Mikaela Shiffrin sat out the speed races in Germany in order to train for the worlds. Shiffrin has not competed in a speed race in more than a year. She had a 10-month break from racing in 2020 and only resumed training in super-G last week. Monday’s race was originally scheduled for Sunday but was postponed because of fog. ——— More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports